Death

by tmb1112

Death is a Quirk that can only kill. A perfect Quirk for a villain, but what if the boy who manifested that power just wanted to be a hero? Enrolling in U.A. might not be enough when all your Quirk can do is kill people. Follow Zach Sazaki from his first day in Class A on a story that spans years, as he learns to be a hero, finds out more about his Quirk, and too much to summarize!

153. Chapter 153

Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia

Chapter 153:

I hope that worked. They really seemed motivated by the end of that. Zach walked down a sidewalk of Yutapu, his mask pulled down off his face to just cover his neck. He was not hiding very much, but also not trying to stand out. There were enough people out though now that some would recognize him even with the mask up, and if they started recording with him looking like that in the middle of the day it might come off as trying to hide. I could have left them on the more optimistic note though. I should have made the threat earlier on. I didn't even think it was necessary at that point, but it needed to be said. "I know you said it was only because it was me, but if I hear you do try robbing someone again, I'll get myself thrown back in Tartaros and…"

Zach rubbed the back of his head below the bottom of his beanie. He needed some tough love though. Both of them did. Can't just be the nice guy there. Carrot and a stick. Incentives to do better. Threats if they do worse. Zach pulled out his phone and checked the time. Still have time before night. Gets dark early enough though. And colder, which means fewer people on the streets, which means more opportunities to catch the fuckers making this the bad part of town.

Might as well practice on the move. Zach pulled out his headphones, opened up some downloads on his phone with a lot of data on it, and he started listening to a lesson in intermediate Korean. I'll stop at the All Might Park nearby. There've gotta be a hundred of those around the country. Reading Korean's my worst, so there's no point doing this lesson without using the supplemental videos.

Zach went to the park close to Junomonji Station, in the worst neighborhood in Yutapu far from his apartment and even farther from Shiketsu. Despite the status as a bad neighborhood, that was still only relative, and it was still a safe place during the day for families to bring their children. Zach frowned at one point as a family left the park's playground near him. "Mutant" type Quirks are too frequent in areas like this. It's more expensive for a lot of their clothes and special needs for housing, must be a burden on them. Discrimination isn't bad in Japan at all, not compared to some places around the world. Don't like that this is known as the bad neighborhood though, with a lot of unique-looking people in the area. Well, maybe it's not as disproportionate as I thought. Zach watched as some children with just brown skin and black hair came to the playground with their parents, only one of whom actually had a single horn sticking out of his forehead to make him look a bit less like a "normal" human.

He got back to his Korean lesson, but a few minutes after he saw the new people arrive at the park, the kids were the ones who ran up and called him out on being Lifebringer. The parents were initially ignoring him, but they looked closer when their curious kids who ran over called out his name. Zach took pictures with the kids, then the parents came over to talk to him after getting as many pics as they could. The kids got back to their games, losing interest quicker than the adults who wanted to know if Zach had moved into their neighborhood. He said he was just walking around the whole city, and that this was a nice place to sit down and get some work done. He mentioned how he had lost track of time because of how nice it was around there though, as he knew he had to be the one to get going or they would stay and talk to him all day.

Zach apologized as they seemed to want to talk to him longer, but he waved his phone he had looked at before mentioning how long he had been there, reminding them and himself about how he had to go. The kids called goodbye towards him, and as soon as Zach left he went into guard mode and watched out for the rooftops around him and alleyways cutting between houses. Geez, how long is this guy going to follow me? I've literally done nothing all day. Nothing that should bother you at least. You didn't try to arrest my mugger either, so that's good. You know I'd know what happened if he gets arrested now. Must be tough for you. Well, unless you come out soon, it's only going to get harder. I'm about to make your job suck.

He's not heading back. It's going to get dark soon. What are your intentions for tonight? Lemillion watched his target carefully yet from a distance. He has one strike already. Letting that villain go after the man tried robbing him. He paid the guy instead! Rewarded him… no matter what he said, he paid a man who just tried to steal from him. Armed robbery. Assault with a deadly weapon. He really listened to a sob story and just let the man off?! The guy could have pulled all that out of his ass!

Lifebringer can't be that naive. Is he going to keep tabs on them after what he just did? The threat he made at the end is the only thing that might work, not that he'd go through with it. Lemillion frowned deeper, Though the mugger definitely believed him. What are you doing? What are you planning right now?! Lemillion pulled out another nutrition bar and chowed into it, frowning frustratedly as he was spending hours watching Zach Sazaki spend most of his time studying.

Zach went to a nearby dive bar. The place also sold food so there was no bouncer checking I.D.'s, and Zach was only there for some ramen anyway. He took off his hat and mask when he sat down though, drawing attention to himself before he removed his outer gloves to show the single black one on his right hand. He draped his jacket over the chair he sat at, on an aisle of chairs all against one counter crossing the middle of the room. He took the corner one closest to the wall but before the curve where there was a higher counter and a couple stools behind him for when the place got crowded.

Doesn't look like a place like this would get very crowded. The guys here seem to know the bartender, and cook. Is it just the two of them working here? Guy behind the bar looks flustered, isn't telling someone else to get ready, so he's coming himself. Zach pulled out his phone and removed his second earphone, putting it down in his pocket and pausing the news' story he had been listening to as it developed. The story was in Spanish, and the villain attack was developing on the opposite side of the world. I'm sure someone's got that.

The waiter, bartender, and apparently owner of the dive came to Zach and welcomed him. Zach saw the older men at the front bar, and the chef poking his head out of the kitchen, all looking towards him with different looks, but none too nervous that would make him get suspicious of them. The waiter's attitude was also just more nervous as he wondered what Lifebringer was doing at his place, since there had to be a reason other than food, right? Zach just ordered some ramen though, a large bowl with extra meat on it and a side of white rice and dumplings since there was a special meal deal. He asked for just water when the waiter questioned about that, and the guy went and got a pitcher and filled it up, bringing it back to Zach's counter with a reusable plastic cup.

Zach ate dinner in relative peace. One of the older men at the bar, a guy in his early fifties, came over to him and mentioned how he thought Zach had always been in the right. Saved one of his clients at the Sports Festival, and killing Kurogiri- Zach had to cut him off there, saying as he shook his head that killing Kurogiri was wrong of him. "Yeah yeah," the older man said after pausing and giving Zach a skeptical look to see if that was just his public line or if he really felt that way. "Well either way. I slept better at night knowing he was gone."

Zach finished up his food, then he walked up to the bar and talked to the four in there from when he arrived. Neither of the two who were already there left before him, but no one else had arrived either. It was dark out now instead of just dusk, and Zach got a bit more of a serious look on his face. He asked about the neighborhood, about how he had heard it wasn't too great in the area and if they knew why that was. This time, Zach saw the waiter/owner's face get a bit more suspicious of a tone in the nervous look he had at Lifebringer's line of questioning. The older men did not know, and the chef went back into the kitchen to prepare for the "dinner rush," not that anyone else had come in yet.

He pushed a little harder on the waiter for looking like he knew something, which was all it took for the guy to quickly deny it too forcefully, which the guy instantly knew looked more suspicious itself. "If you want to ask someone, talk to the Karbo brothers!"

"At the coffee shop?" The older man on Zach's right asked. Zach had gotten between the two at the bar as he asked the man on the other side of it, staying between everyone right in the middle of the discussion. The guy on Zach's right was the one who thanked him before, and he mentioned as he nodded his head, "Those two always did seem a bit fishy. Brew a good coffee though. Better than that Moondollars' garbage."

His friend on his left side nodded in agreement with that. "Find it strange they stay open so late. Who needs a coffee at night anyway?"

"I could use one," Zach said, putting the money for his dinner down on the counter with his bill he already had and was not paying yet. "Keep the change. The ramen was great!" Zach called it over towards the entry into the kitchen, then he turned and started for the exit of the bar.

"Karbo Kafe," one of the older men behind Zach called to his back.

Zach rose a hand in goodbye and thanks to the man who just said that, then he walked out of the building and out onto a nearly empty road. He saw a couple men to his left heading his direction, and he turned right while pulling his mask back up his face. Karbo Kafe's not too far. Everyone knows everyone in this district. That's great. If guys who aren't involved in anything know who seems up to something, then the ones actually involved and being more careful must have a lot. Zach chuckled under his breath as the men behind him headed into the bar, imagining the talk they were going to have with the people he had spent dinner with. Was actually pretty good for a place like that. Chef took some pride in it. Might've just been since he was serving Lifebringer. Nice that people try harder for me. Even those burgers earlier were above regular fast food quality. Japan's fast food really is the best though…

Lemillion trailed after Zach, his eyes dark as he watched the boy whose conversations he kept eavesdropping on from nearby places. He already knows where this cafe is. He's been scouting out the area all afternoon while studying Korean. He knows this layout, maybe even some of those papers at the library he's got the original designs for buildings and the district's set-up. Lifebringer's moving cautiously. He's not just rushing into this, looking for a criminal to fight. It's like he has a plan, yet without villains he's actually after. He could be looking for something that isn't even there. Does he have a hunch? Lemillion gazed carefully towards his target's back, but Zach was not jogging or drawing any unwanted attention to himself. It was dark now, and wearing a black mask to cover the bottom half of his face was not suspicious at all as it got colder. Lemillion had put on a mask of his own not too long ago, and he grimaced as a frigid wind blew by the top of the building he was crouched on currently.

After watching Zach eat such a nice meal, Lemillion wished he had brought something more substantial than the bland energy bars he had been eating all day. He can disappear at any time. If he suspects someone was listening to that conversation too, he could pretend to be heading towards the Karbo Kafe only to go somewhere else when the people following lay in wait at that location. This could be where he tries to slip me! If it's a ploy to…

Zach turned on the street of the cafe, and he crossed the street after looking both ways. He jogged across in case any cars did turn so he would not slow them down, then he made his way towards the coffee shop while rubbing his hands together in front of him. This is going to be tough, but stay out of my way. Zach got closer to the coffee shop that had the lights on inside. The street was a side road that was empty of most businesses save a bookstore back on the corner and another bar that served some food just past it down the road a couple apartments. The apartments looked occupied with some lights on inside, some laundry hanging out on balconies, and there was a dark apartment above the cafe Zach figured the brothers also owned and lived in.

I don't want to call you out. It would be this big thing where people learn the government is keeping tabs on me, people could get fired, and if it ever comes out that I really was him then everyone would be even more upset that I caused so much controversy that they all defended me so strongly over. I don't want to do it. You don't want to call me out without sufficient proof. Even if I do something bad here, it's not what you're looking to prove. It'll give you more just-cause to keep following me around though, but you'd follow me anyway. So fuck it. Let's see how you deal.

Zach walked into the cafe, and he started rubbing his hands together again like he only stopped because he had to grab the door handle. "It is freezing out there," Zach said as he rubbed his winter gloves.

The two men in the place were sitting behind the counter, eating some dinner themselves. One of them was a wide man, broad shoulders that seemed pointy from what Zach could see through his shirt, though they might have had rounded edges just like his pointy head that rounded at the top. The man was bald, though he had a cap backwards on his head with a hole in the middle that his rounded tip went through. The other man had bright red skin, was skinnier than his brother, and he had four eyes with a pair of four-lensed glasses over them. He had two earrings in his right ear, his larger brother had a chin covered in brown ragged facial hair, and neither were wearing a specific uniform for the place but instead just some casual and warm clothes.

The men in sweats and long-sleeved shirts looked towards the door, and the skinner Karbo with red skin frowned at the tall figure who just came in looking like he needed to warm up. It was heated in their place, but this was a business. "Oi, you here for coffee?"

Zach looked over, then he hesitated at the look he received from the men like he was realizing he could not just stay inside unless he did get one. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, could I get a small coffee? Black's fine," he added, like he did not want to put them through much trouble. It was trouble enough though, interrupting their dinner and then staying to waste their time with the cheapest thing he could get.

The skinner man grunted and looked away. "Fine," he started over to a coffee machine. He could not well turn away paying customers, as much as it did annoy him that someone came in during dinner when usually no one was around.

Zach walked towards the counter, but he stayed to the side where he could see partially through an propped-open door into a back room. Zach leaned his head to the side and looked in there, then he turned back to the broad fellow with the pointy head that was still just an inch above his own head. "Not very busy tonight, huh?" Zach asked the man, keeping his voice friendly though in a different tone than his usual one that might be recognizable on the news. Only a piece of his scar under his right eye was visible, not noticeable enough for the men to realize anything yet though. The guy did not respond to Zach as his thinner brother was fetching coffee, giving Zach a dark look instead because of his interruption of the brothers' conversation and dinner.

Zach leaned back, looking slightly intimidated like the man was trying to do to him. "Oh, yeah, I guess you wouldn't be," Zach said, nodding in understanding like that look was telling him not to ask stupid questions. He kept speaking rapidly though, a nervous talker apparently. "Must not get a lot of business at all at times like this. I'd ask how you pay your employees keeping a cafe like this up all night, but you both run this place together right? The Karbos?" Zach motioned his head back like he figured it out from the sign.

The larger man grunted again, while the one brewing Zach a fresh cup of coffee glanced back over his shoulder for a second at the questions only to turn forward as it did not seem like anything. Something put off the four-eyed man though, for some reason making his stomach churn with a pit of dread he could not shake. "The apostrophe's in the wrong place though, I mean," Zach continued, only hesitating after he said it like he realized he might be insulting them. The muscular guy with pointy shoulders and head just gave him a confused look though, before looking past towards a window at the front of the shop with their cafe's name on it. "Karbo's Kafe, the apostrophe should be after your names. It seems like it just belongs to one of you this way."

"It belongs to the family," the thinner man said, his voice annoyed that he had to explain it. "To the family name. Get it?"

"Yeah, yeah, that makes sense," Zach said apologetically. He pulled back while saying it too, and now he had them completely thinking he was an innocent, unthreatening person who made nervous conversation about grammar. "Um, but still," Zach continued, making the two both start getting angrier. The red brother, his thicker brother's older twin despite them looking so different, cancelled the brewing process to just get the coffee out sooner. "Keeping the place open so late without making much sales, it must be a waste of like, the power? I don't know. Do you guys sell other stuff too?"

The man right behind the counter smirked big at the question, and he snorted at the nervous man before him still wearing all his winter gear. It looked like the customer was ready to get out of there as quickly as possible. Not taking off any clothes gave off a sense of insecurity, a nervous personality, unable to let go at all and that he was intimidated into being ready to run at any time. "L-Like what about those bags?" Zach motioned towards the back room that the big guy looked towards with his smile dropping down, into a deep and angry frown.

The other brother making Zach's coffee stopped pouring. He turned and glared at the customer who was still looking back at the back room without realizing how the others started to look. "What is that stuff? You guys like, making-"

"Hey," the thinner brother started back towards the counter with a coffee. Zach looked back and his eyes grew wide and very nervous at the way the man was looking at him. "A thousand yen," he said, putting the cup on the counter in front of his cold customer.

Zach's eyes widened more. The cup of coffee was small, and his eyes darted up to a board with the prices on it. "But, a small is only-"

"Aniki, I don't think he heard you," the large man started towards the corner of the counter. He walked past the back door, reaching inside and grabbing the doorknob to pull the door shut. As it was about closed, he slammed it and gave the customer a dark look. "A thousand. You have a problem with that?"

"Get the fuck out of our store," the older brother behind the counter said. His voice was steady, but cold, and his eyes were dark as they stared at the customer who darted a gaze back to him. "Go on. Out into the cold with you," he waved a hand towards the door like he was shooing him away.

"Uh- can I get the coffee first-" Zach started reaching for his pocket and the coffee at the same time.

"My brother just told you to go," the big man walking towards Zach on this side of the counter started. He glared darkly at the part of Zach's face uncovered by his mask. Zach's hazel eyes narrowed back though, but from a man who had made himself out to be so un-intimidating, the look did not get well received by the bigger man. "We said, get the fuck-"

Zach's left hand snapped up, and he caught the big man by his wrist. "You threatening me?" Zach asked.

The older twin behind the counter ground his teeth in a furious way. "Ondo! Get him-" he started snapping at his brother to throw the customer out, to stop looking so pathetic getting caught like that, but his face covered in fear instead at the look of pain covering his brother's face. Zach twisted his wrist, and the brother on his left side dropped to his knees as his arm was bent in a way that not falling would have put him through excruciating pain. "Wh-What are… Who are you?"

The man behind the counter was reaching down to his waist behind his back. Zach stared into his eyes in a way that made the man's hand stop lowering, and move back in front of him where Zach could see. Zach lifted his right hand towards his face, and he slowly pulled his mask down. The man behind the counter and the one cowering down on Zach's left stared at his face in sheer panic and terror, the bigger man's whimpers cutting off at the sight.

Zach let go of the vice grip with his left hand. He took off his heavy gloves and put them down into his jacket's pocket, then he reached his right hand forward and took his coffee. "You brothers have no idea how screwed you are now." Zach took a sip, then he put his coffee back down on the counter. "A cream and sugar, please," Zach requested.

Ondo Karbo got up and scrambled back away from Lifebringer. He gulped, then he made his way behind the counter quickly like putting that small barrier between them would protect him. "Omalo," Ondo whispered, looking towards his older twin in a nervous way.

"What are you doing here, hero? You don't have a warrant-" Omalo paused at Zach's smirk that rose at what he was saying.

"I was just here for a coffee," Zach said in an innocent voice, shaking his head confusedly at why Omalo would think he needed a warrant. "It was your brother, a co-owner of this cafe, who came at me as you both threatened me."

"We didn't know who-" Ondo started countering loudly.

"So if I was a regular Japanese citizen, it would have been okay for you to violently throw them out of your store, just for questioning you about a jacked price?" Zach questioned it in a softer voice, in a tone that told Ondo not to raise his voice that loud again and had the pointy-shouldered man gulping again in fear. "And why was it you jacked the price?" Zach continued calmly. "You didn't like what I said about what's in the back, did you? Why not? What could have been, in those bags I saw?"

"You don't…" Omalo started, but he ground his teeth as he stopped himself.

"That's right. Now that there's an active crime here- attempted assault on a hero, I have certain rights don't I?" Omalo stared right back in Zach's eyes as he was saying this. His expression fell as Zach continued in a lower voice, "A man like you would know exactly what those rights are, in order to protect himself."

"Aniki," Ondo whispered, his fists clenching as he got closer to his brother.

Strength in numbers won't work. Not with me. You know it. Your brother seems a little slower. Better stop him. Omalo lifted his right hand in a bit of a 'stop' motion at his brother, calming Ondo who thought his brother had a plan.

"Don't try to run," Zach continued. He took his coffee that Omalo brought back with what he asked for in it. He walked towards the end of the counter and around it, and he leaned back on the same counter the brothers were leaning on as they ate dinner before. The scar-faced teen calmly stuck his finger into one of the man's dinner and licked his finger of the curry. "That's good," Zach said, nodding with a smile at the taste. Then he picked up their dinners, and he dropped them into a trash can behind the counter on his right. He looked to the two and shook his head again, then he turned left and opened the back door that Ondo might have slammed but did not lock afterwards.

Ondo made to climb over the counter, but Omalo grabbed him and yanked him back to stand still. "Chill, brother. Stay cool," Omalo said. His voice was soothing and in control, getting Ondo to calm down too. At the same time, Omalo had sweat coming down both sides of his face. Oh fuck. Fuck! He's Death! Everyone knows it. I should have listened to the Gunzos, I should've quit when I was ahead. Fucking Death is right in front of me. This is no time to lose my shit. It's Death. Death. He doesn't do things like heroes. I have no fucking idea how he'll do this. He's not treating this like a crime scene though. He's leaving opportunities open… oh shit.

Zach nodded at what he saw in the back room. Then he stepped back out and looked to the brothers again. "Ondo, and Omalo," Zach said, nodding to each of the brothers as he said their names. "You're involved in the black market for Quirk drugs." Zach stepped towards them, picked up his coffee off the counter and took a sip. His expression was calm, and he lifted his free hand and waved it in front of him a couple times, rolling it like he was telling them to start talking.

"Trigger, Double Trigger, Effectless," Zach named the drugs confidently, like he already knew it all before coming in here and he was listing off their crimes. Effectless was the street name for a weaker Trigger with fewer side effects that also gives a stimulant sort of overconfidence. People snort it, and he actually saw some in the back room despite having lied about that at first. Saying he saw 'bag's was always an easy way to make people nervous. Too many illegal things were kept in bags around the world. Zach continued after his pause, his eyes darkening, "Cocain, Spur, Kick-"

"We don't do Kick-" Ondo started, only to get a strong elbow from his brother on his side who could have face-palmed if what his brother just said wasn't so fucking damning.

Ondo seemed to realize what he just did himself too, a look of despair covering his face as well as one of anger as he felt Zach tricked him. Zach just took another sip from his coffee though, his expression calming Omalo down. Omalo turned to the coffee pot that still had some left in it, and he got out another paper cup to pour himself some. Zach did not stop him, though he saw Omalo was testing the water to see how much he could get away with.

Ondo was shocked at his brother's balls though, and he decided to just keep his mouth shut as hopefully Omalo knew what he was doing. On the other hand, Lemillion was glaring furiously at the wall from inside the back room he was listening from silently. His teeth were clenched, but he stayed mostly on the other side in the small turnaround space with stairs up to the apartment above. Only his head was through the wall, just close enough that he could hear what was happening. Call the police, Sazaki. Do it now. This isn't your job! You have a provisional license. You can't work on your own, not like this! When you see a crime you need to report it!

"All I want is information," Zach said. "Your suppliers," he added, getting more specific and watching Omalo to see what he would do.

"No can do," Omalo replied.

Ondo spun to his brother, then nervously turned back to Lifebrigner who he frowned at in a more villainous way ready to fight if need be. The boy in front of them did not say anything for a moment. He stood there letting the two stare at his face covered in scars, his split ear, his neck that was partially covered by a mask but they both knew there were even more scars on. "Alright, I just want to know the supplier for Double Trigger." Zach narrowed it more and stared into Omalo as he offered it up. Just one thing, with the connotation that it would help the Karbo brothers out.

"Gives an extra boost after the first peak, which ultimately leaves people stronger than before," Zach explained. He continued darker, "But also leaves them disfigured, and less mentally stable. Some people accept those side effects though for a stronger Quirk, and more might as using Quirks become more acceptable, and it's bad news." Zach paused. He looked darkly at Omalo, I'm surprised they actually have a connect. Double's hard to come by. They're involved with a lot. They might not have it all on them right now, small-time as they are, but Ondo made it clear Kick was the first one I mentioned that they've never peddled.

"I can't tell you," Omalo said.

The wording's different. "No can do," indicated a more finality. This time, the tone with it, it's like he's saying he can't because of certain reasons. Well, I'll quell your concerns about those reasons. Zach nodded in understanding, but he spoke darkly, "If you keep selling that stuff, I'd have to arrest you." The first sentence indicated that he might not arrest them, and that their intense fears about this situation being the end of their free lives were dashed by some hope. Then black wisps came out of Zach's hands making that hope shaky too, making them unstable and their faces cover in fear as the brief hope made them realize how scared they actually were of losing that freedom. "You don't need to worry, since I don't give away my informants. No one will know you snitched. You can stop after too without raising too much suspicion, trying to just lay low as people you knew and were in business with got caught. No one would think twice about it."

Zach lowered his voice, "But you will tell me." His black wisps disappeared, but he did not need them to stay looking as menacing to the men as any person they had ever seen before.

Ten minutes later, Zach lowered his phone that he took some notes on during his conversation with the Karbos. They were both drinking coffee with him now, as he repeated his assurances to them a couple of times which got them to calm down and start getting friendlier with him. With Ondo it just happened naturally, while Zach could tell Omalo was trying to make Zach his friend so that Zach would sympathize with them and not turn on them at a later date. He got some good information to leave with, but he finished by first threatening them in a similarly scary way as he threatened a homeless man earlier. This time he added on that they had to destroy all the drugs they currently had too. He knew they would lose a bit of money doing so, as they already paid for them. But that's what making risky investments is all about. Sometimes you lose everything. "Try stocks instead," Zach suggested, before turning and grabbing the handle of the cafe's door. "I'll know if you don't do what I said."

He left, his new informants that he would check in with again soon watching him through the windows with fear all over their faces. You might not want to tell me about the others now, but after a few days of being out of it, the others will start threatening you. Telling you to get back in, stop being pussies, maybe even threatening you themselves. You'll be happy to be rid of them. For now, I'll stick with Double. I haven't heard anything about it being in Japan, so either it's small or it's new. Either way, I need to prevent it from getting big. It could be small because of Japan's low tolerance of Quirk usage outside of hero activities or training by heroes. Making a Quirk stronger doesn't do much here, not like in some countries where they can use Quirks at their jobs and actually get a pretty big pay raise if they could do more. It's not a bad idea, which means a lot of people are willing to do it, screw the consequences…

Zach headed to the train station, and he traveled four stops away. It was no longer the heart of the worst area in town, but it was nearby and still not in a great neighborhood. There were no high-rises in the area. There were a few industrial structures farther out from the train station than the initial residential and commercial area, and one of the old warehouses had been transformed into a club similar to the ones on the commercial strip. Innovative, Zach thought, figuring the people who bought the warehouse made a lot of money flipping it like that.

He headed past that warehouse night-club though. He went past a couple other industrial parks, businesses that were closed for the night or closing around the time he was passing them. There was a construction zone that was still packed with workers, bright floodlights on to allow them to work later. Now here's the big question. Do the Karbos warn them and try to flee the country with whatever pocket change they have on them? Unlikely, but it's happened before even when I was certain the informants were solid. Sometimes they could trick me, and other times the fear they felt just fades as they convince themselves that they could have handled that better if given a second chance. They hype up how brave they are. But if they call Rancor now, they'd be telling him that they snitched about his location and telling me that they were going back on their word. They looked like they were going to destroy all their stashes as soon as I left.

Zach turned around the side of a building when he was still a fair distance from his desired location. Lemillion watched from nearby, his heart racing as he questioned what he should be doing right now. He had decided against calling the police and rushing to the location when he heard what the cafe owners told Sazaki. As much as catching them was a priority, he knew it would give him away to Sazaki. It would give away that a hero was following him. And he needed to see Sazaki do this himself. He needed more than just the kid threatening some shop owners who would never fess up to it happening, not once they destroyed their stashes so there was no proof of them ever being criminals in the first place. As much as he knew Sazaki needed to tell them to stop selling drugs too, he hated that Sazaki was giving up the leverage he had on them as the next time he ran into them, they wouldn't tell him anything.

Lemillion snuck after Lifebringer. He watched him from above and from a distance, staying even more hidden now as he knew the villains Sazaki was after could have lookouts too. Someone approaching like he was would be more suspicious than Lifebringer's approach too. The kid was not acting like he was hiding. He had his hoods up over his beanie, and he looked as sketchy as possible. His hands tweaked at his sides on occasion, even when no one else was watching him. He scratched the bottom left side of his face over his mask, and he looked around as if checking to make sure no one was watching him.

Zach made a wide loop around the building he was going for. How am I doing this? Slowly moving up, sooner or later they're going to fight back. How big could these villains be? There are lots of big villain groups across the country. People consider the Radians most dangerous right now. Other than the hit on Midoriya's mom, and the base Lemillion and them found before I came back, there hasn't been any big news about the League at all recently. Nothing while I was in jail. They got a lot smaller. Easier to handle like at the beginning. Less control over everything, which is why all these other groups are free to do as they like without interruption from Shigaraki and Raijin.

Subspace Devils and Jazz too. Any of the three could be big. This could lead me to a lot more. They might not have told the Karbo brothers too, so them not knowing anything about what their group is called could mean jack shit. Rancor's guys. Rancor, and some guys he pays. That's what Karbo thought it was. Just some small time shit. Double in a country without reports of Double though, means it's coming from somewhere else. Means shipping and international drug trade, production from someone who is willing to spread to a market as small as Japan. Something with as little reward and as high risk, means they don't care about the risk, means they're big enough to feel invincible. They're spreading too far though. Too far too quickly, and now they're going to get a rude awakening. This is my country. This is my trade. You fuckers are going to get with it or get dead.

Zach walked towards the building he saw movement inside of. There was a garage that was closed, and a gate with a lock on it at the end of a driveway that was oddly clean when there were so many signs that this building was abandoned. There were no lights inside the warehouse, and the signs on the gate that said not to trespass were new. It looked like the fence was more well-kept than everything else, as if a warning to people in the area that people were serious about people not trespassing. There were warnings about penalties, and some signs of old construction like the building was owned by someone, just unfinished and that it would be a while for it to get to that point.

Likely only move in and out of there late at night. The scouts make sure no one else is around first. Luckily there is no 'shoot first ask questions later' policy in Japan. You can't do shit to me legally except call the police. And you won't want to call the police. You'll want to ignore me as much as you can.

Zach pushed part of the fence forward while pulling the other part back towards him. He crouched down and slipped through the fence, yanking his body through when his jacket got caught and then staggering forward after coming free. A small hole ripped in his jacket as he did that, some fabric strings waving off in a breeze afterwards, giving him more the appearance he was looking for in case anyone noticed the tiny things, like how clean his clothes were. He noticed he had caught a bit of a smell due to his time on the dumpster, but he aired out throughout the day and just had a bit of a sweaty smell now that would only be noticed if he was inside for long enough.

He tweaked his way across the industrial yard, staying off the driveway and towards a part of the area with the darkest shadows. He got around the side of the building, and he shook around the locked handle with a frustrated grunt or two for the guy watching him just upstairs. The woman was not even trying to hide as she looked down at him, as Zach yanked at the handle frustratedly without looking around at his surroundings. He glanced up, and he pulled back nervously only to shake his head around and rub his eyes with an arm before going back to pulling on the handle. The villain above him ground her teeth in anger that he thought she was a hallucination or something.

Then Zach opened the door. Her eyes opened wide, and she lifted a walkie back to her mouth while making her way back to the stairs herself.

I can't let Sazaki kill them. Is that why he's here? Is he trying to find even more villains after this? Lemillion slipped through a fence when he was sure the scouts he saw were watching Zach. He got close to the building quickly, right up against the wall and then inside of it and through into cramped spots. He was set up inside close to the villains before Zach even showed up. I can't let these ones escape. No matter what, they'll be arrested for this. I'll get Sazaki too if he tries to let them go. Negligence and the crimes he's been committing, doing whatever this is! I won't let it continue. You can't just tell people not to commit crimes anymore. That's not…

Zach walked through an old industrial complex, abandoned long enough ago that it was hard to tell what the place had been before what it was now. An abandoned old building, with signs of use inside but also signs that it was being made to look even more abandoned. There were areas where big machines were resting against the wall, rusting and covered in dust, while the floor next to them was oddly dust-free. There was a cracked window near there though, so it could have been the wind, and yet it could have also just been the dust was swept away to avoid footprints being seen on the floor.

He moved forward without caring to be quiet. Then he stopped his stumbling. Zach pulled his mask down, and his eyes were dark as he walked normally and with loud steps towards the room he knew they were in. He grabbed the doorknob and opened the door, and he stepped into a room that was lit-up so the light had been going under the crack in the door. There were no windows inside the room. It was attached to the garage, and Zach saw a pair of large trucks along with a couple of normal cars too. What a hideout. Inside a city with a lot of heroes and a top hero high school, so less suspicious than an abandoned building out on its own. They've done a good job of keeping this hidden. If a hero had approached, they probably could have slipped away somewhere. They thought I was just a random druggie until a few seconds ago though. Look at them. So scared. So small. You fucking pathetic little cowards.

Zach stared ahead at all the men and women aiming weapons at him or just ready with their Quirks. Some of them still backed up, despite having over twenty people ready to attack. No one said a word when he opened the door and stepped inside. He walked forward into the doorway like he belonged there. His eyes casually scanned around them, terrifying and confusing all the villains in front of him. Recognize one other as a wanted villain. Rancor's easy to tell from his description, though he looks as scared as the rest of them. Doubt they're connected to the big timers. Zach's irises were red, his eyes with a faint glow in them though not too threatening that the people before him would think he was attacking them. His body posture gave off that opposite feeling actually. It's what kept anyone from retaliating to him attacking them. They just inched backwards or stared frozen where they were in front of the person who they learned was outside their door only seconds before he entered.

Most of them had not even heard about the person approaching. The guards mentioned it to Rancor that it was a homeless person at first, then a druggie finding a place to shoot up, then they told him the guy had somehow gotten inside. No one was ready for him. One man was even holding a brick of cocaine in one hand and a pistol in the other, because the brick was opened on the top and he could not have tossed it to the side without coke flying everywhere. He looked from the brick to the teenager who just came in and then back again, his gun shaking nervously in his other hand. He was one of only four who had firearms, though Zach saw a lot more guns off on one corner of the room.

One of the trucks was pointed back towards him, with the back of it opened up so Zach could see a lot more contraband inside. Guess these guys aren't just dealing in Double. I don't even see any Double Trigger around here. Maybe the market's lower for it than I even thought, and their attempt through the Karbos failed. Karbo said they rarely work with these guys. Too big, yet not very close with them, so they wouldn't suspect it was the Karbos out of everyone they usually work with. Let Omalo believe that anyway. Whether they've got any Double on them right now, this is more than I figured. On the high end at least. Gotta be getting this from overseas. Stupid fucks worked with snitches. How dumb can you retards be? Zach's mindset was cold, menacing… his whole expression was just straight villainous as he smirked at everything he saw.

The smirk was not a "look at how big a bust I just got" kind of smile. It was a "good," smirk. Zach looked around and stopped on Rancor, and he said in a low voice, "What's it going to be, chief? Who wants to take a shot at me?" Zach's voice was dark and intimidating. His eyes were cold, his expression fierce yet hidden behind his villainous smile. With his scars, his tinted red eyes, and his reputation alone, it would have been enough. That smirk and his taunt though, it had Rancor dropping his arms slowly to his sides.

Others lowered their guns. Some of them shook with their arms up longer, looking like they would rather go down fighting than get caught. That mindset worked better when they were faced up against heroes though. They all knew that if a hero had just busted in, all of them would have started attacking. This wasn't a hero though. This was the Lifebringer. No one knew what he would do to them. His expression made every one of them believe he could do anything, that he was not constrained by the rules of normal heroes.

"Wh-What are we doing?!" A girl in the back shouted, looking around at the others and still keeping her hands covered in ice lifted. "We, we can take-"

"Fuck that!"

"I surrender. Lifebringer, just-" a man starting to speak to Zach softer and more pleadingly, took a step towards Zach as he lifted his hands in a defensive way. Zach did not know if the man was going for a fake out, to get close while begging like that only to attack, or if the man really was begging. He wondered if the man knew the answer to that himself, but it did not matter anymore. The look Zach gave the guy froze him in his tracks with his mouth open, and then guy took a step backwards instead of getting any closer to Lifebringer.

"It's fine," Zach said, lifting up his hands on his sides too in a defensive way. He laughed, looked around at the others while lowering his arms and relaxing his posture, "Everything's fine. Okay? I don't want to capture you. That's not why I'm here."

This fucking kid! Lemillion bit down and shook where he was, getting ready to jump out and do it himself.

"You're, not going to arrest us?" An eight foot tall man with four arms bulking through his tight black shirt asked. He gave Zach a skeptical look, then he glared harder through his pure white eyes and said to the boy looking back at him, "We won't snitch, if that's what you're after."

Rancor's look got darker too. He thought in some confusion despite keeping that steady, unwavering look, The fuck is happening right now? Was not expecting something like this to happen tonight, but the biggest moves are always spontaneous. Opportunities come in the moment, not with long plans. Something's up-

"No no no," Zach's tone got ominous, his voice lifting and he even laughed as he shook his head at what that villain just said to him. "I don't want you to do that either," Zach said it with a smirk, with the most evil aura emanating from him that had almost all the villains in the room thinking the same thing at once. It was the same thing Lemillion thought in a frenzied state from his hiding spot.

He's here to kill us!

FUCK! WE'RE DEAD!

Oh God no.

Please- someone!

Rancor's eyes were shaking, as the idea of this being an opportunity vanished from his mind as sheer panic and terror covered it instead. This teen known for killing villains stood in front of them, with no one else around. For the first time in Rancor's adult life, he had the thought of calling heroes to come save him. The smirking teen stared ahead in the room full of villains and once again shook every single one of them to the core as he said, "This is my operation now."

The statement floored some of the villains who could not believe what they just heard. Others took a few seconds to process it, before opening their eyes huge and staring towards Lifebringer in actual disbelief. Zach looked at Rancor while saying it. He looked at the man who he was "assuming" was in charge of this operation, as if daring Rancor to go against what he just said. Rancor had just seen his life flash before his eyes though. All hope had been lost for a moment, as he accepted deep inside that he would have rather been thrown in Tartaros than get killed right there. He actually wanted heroes to show up and arrest everyone to prevent Lifebringer from killing him, and now suddenly, that feeling of this being an opportunity re-arose and made the villain happier than he knew he could be in this situation.

"You, you're taking over?" Rancor asked. He asked it, not in a confrontational tone, more like he was just asking to make sure he heard Lifebringer correctly.

"That's right," Zach said. He stepped farther into the room, "You'll do what I say, how I say it," Zach looked to the right, then to the left after the pause. He lifted his head and said in a confident voice, in a tone so cocky he was threatening all the people who might be thinking of going against him, "I'm in charge now."

I was wrong, Lemillion stayed hidden in the shadows. About everything. I, I had no idea… He watched as Zach turned his head. Zach looked away from the villains who had been ready to attack him a minute ago, and he called out at the people outside to get in there. The guards waiting in the hall came in slowly, too nervous to try and run since he knew they were there, and because they had heard what Lifebringer was saying and now thought they might not have to run at all.

"Ha, hahaha," Rancor started laughing. He lifted a hand to his head and ran it back through his dark blue hair. His laughs were of relief, and he said while staring towards the teen in front of him, "I swear, I thought you were Death! But now I know, Lifebringer's just one crazy bastard!"

Another two people started laughing only to cut themselves off just as fast as Rancor did. Zach gave Rancor a dark look, his eyes so cold they shut him up in an instant. Zach walked forward, right up to Rancor who leaned back but did not start running or even take a step away. Zach stepped right up in front of Rancor and warned in a low voice, "Don't push my buttons. And don't bullshit me. We'll get along just fine, yeah?" Zach rose his eyebrows, and Rancor nodded with a more serious look, changing up his tune a little.

"Alright guys, come on," Zach looked around, easing his expression a bit and smiling again. "It's all good. We're good," he corrected, giving a reassuring look to some of the more scared people who were too jumpy. "Who are you? Formerly in charge…" Zach looked to Rancor and trailed off, waiting for Rancor to give him his name which the man did. Rancor said his name, finishing Zach's statement of 'Formerly in charge,' with 'Rancor.'

"Good response, Rancor," Zach said, lifting his left hand and smacking the man on the cheek twice with it. He walked past Rancor while the older man turned his head and watched him walk by, any emasculation he felt overwhelmed by the relief and confusion, and even excitement he was starting to feel. "Everyone gather up over here," Zach said, waving a hand towards himself. Don't want any of you wandering off. You don't need to get back to your guard posts, and it's not work as usual. It's time to listen. It's time to still feel afraid I could just kill you, and time to stand in front of me deciding whether you will stay in my ranks or run off. You don't want to be the only one to leave. You definitely don't want to be the first, not after I just told you to come.

Zach jumped up and landed on top of the truck that had the back open. He landed and turned around, looking down at the villains with a dark look and his eyes glowing a bit brighter red even as the top half of his face shadowed over more the way he was looking down at them. "How's this operation set up?" Zach looked down at Rancor while asking, but he shifted his eyes around offering the floor to anyone else.

Rancor saw Zach shift his gaze like that, and a few opportunistic others spotted it too. If any of them wanted to get in with Zach, if they wanted to rise up in whatever the new ranks would be with Lifebringer in charge, this was the moment before Rancor established a more permanent position. The way Zach smacked Rancor's cheek just a few seconds ago did so much to the hierarchy of the gang. Their impressions of Rancor were shaken, and that made the quickest to adapt in the room quick to try and take his place. Most of them were still too nervous to say or do anything, but before Rancor realized it two of his comrades were speaking.

The four armed man in a tight black shirt nodded at the truck Zach was standing on. "We've got a deal to get rid of these guns tomorrow. A drop at a site in the woods north of Yutapu. We stay with the drop until we get word that the money's been wired, then we leave it there. No need to meet with the buyer that way."

A woman with long orange hair looked next to her on her right at the big man with four muscular arms, then she turned to Zach herself and added, "I'm in charge of distribution of our product through Yutapu. The smaller dealers we've got on our payroll-"

"Answer to me," Rancor growled, his eyes dark as he glared at that woman. She turned, ready to say something snarky to him as she had lost much respect for Rancor a minute ago. His eyes were black though, and the second she looked towards him she tried darting her eyes to the floor. It was too late though, and her own eyes started to turn black. The woman started to panic, grabbing at her face and yelling Rancor's name, as black liquid started dripping out of her eyes and down her face.

"Chill, chill," Zach said. He told Rancor to relax in what sounded like a relaxed tone of his own, yet he was giving orders as he said to "chill." Rancor hesitated, but he turned away back to Lifebringer fully and looked into his eyes. Zach stared straight back, and Rancor's eyes quickly turned back to their normal shade. The fact that Zach looked right in his eyes, no fear despite just seeing what Rancor's Quirk was, it gave off the same feeling of control that had Zach running shit all of a sudden.

Rancor continued once his eyes were back to normal, "No one here knows how this shit is run better than me."

"Then explain it to me," Zach told Rancor, giving him the chance. Before Rancor might have a second thought about it and realize anything, Zach added, "I need to know, if I'm going to incorporate this operation into the network I'm building." Zach grinned down at the villains, his face scary with the shadows and the red glow at the top of it. "I'll let you in on a secret, Rancor," Zach said to the man who stepped forward closer to the back of the truck. "Since I've been back," Zach said, all the villains leaning in while Lemillion watched with huge eyes from his hiding place. "I've already started establishing a whole new network of villains. I'm building trading routes and communications between them, to get around the heroes I'll be watching even closer from the other side." Zach smirked as he finished with that, making it sound like the greatest idea ever to the villains who would now know whenever a hero was onto them.

Lifebringer was giving away his evil plans. He couldn't turn on them now, because they all knew what he was planning! This knowledge turned more nervous looks into nervously excited expressions. Villains started looking at each other, easing up and getting hesitant smiles on their faces as they checked to see if the people next to them were seeing this?! Others became convinced of what the first ones to speak up had realized, that it was alright to talk to Lifebringer and that they should do it to become part of whatever his huge plans were that he chose them to be a part of.

Lemillion's eyes narrowed. He watched as those calmed looks spread around the villains. He saw them smiling and getting convinced, quicker than he expected it to happen. The blond hero in the shadows slowly backtracked on his own thoughts. I was wrong again, wasn't I? He looked so serious about it. He looks, evil. Yet he's just going to stand there, and they're…

Rancor started speaking up fast when the guys around him were looking more ready to talk to Lifebringer. He mentioned big names he figured Zach might know. Well-known villains in Japan who he had met with before, usually with different members of the gang around him so not all of them had met as many as Rancor had. Then Rancor mentioned the "port crew," motioning at a group who grinned as Zach looked their way. "…There's a night-shift at the port in Kobe who we got looking the other way when our shipments come in. Sulu told me about it-"

"Sulu, the Subspace exec?" Zach asked, lifting his right eyebrow and getting an interested look on his face. His look of approval that Rancor knew some famous villain in the Subspace Devils made the gang leader grin right back.

Rancor was realizing it, but Zach talked about having an entire system established that he was working on. Even though Lifebringer was taking control, that was big picture shit and Rancor was likely still going to be running things the way he had been. In that case, he needed to regain some street cred that he lost, and he continued, "They use the same port, if you're thinking of pulling them in."

A few of Rancor's guys looked at him with huge eyes, others got more nervous looks on their faces at the suggestion. "Yo, Overlord's known as a crazy fuck," another of the guys behind Rancor started. He was looking at his old boss as he said it, then towards Lifebringer who he shook his head at, "I don't want to work with him. Heard the guy kills his own men. Pops off at random."

"They can get down, or they can be put down," Rancor said. He glared back at the other member of his gang, then he smirked at his man's disbelieving look. "We have Lifebringer. They're fucked," the way Rancor worded it made Zach smirk and even chuckle under his breath. They "have" me, like I'm Rancor's secret weapon to use against them. He's a pretty dangerous guy after all. Just smart enough to be scared shitless of me, and still try to keep control over his own situation.

"You mentioned your shipments," Zach began, getting Rancor to turn back to him and nod. "When do they come?" Zach asked, and the former gang leader started replying right away. His confidence was restored, and Rancor spoke collectedly while focused more on the way his men were seeing how steady and unwavering he was being while talking to their new terrifying boss most of them were still nervous about. Rancor described the ship that came in and how the shipping containers meant for them were marked. He talked about the Brazilians, the different goods and deals they had going, and his ideas for how to expand further that he was bringing up for the first time now that Lifebringer was telling him they were going to be making it big.

Lemillion listened as Rancor discussed big plans for the future. He was recording all of it on a tape recorder down in his pocket, though he had to listen closely as the conversation was going on in the open between the garage and the main room, with not many places for him to hide close to it. Sazaki's bullshitting them. I don't know the kid well enough, but the way Deku and Explosion King talk about him, this isn't something he'd ever do. Lifebringer's shrouded in mystery though, and these villains feel like they're seeing a side of him the public never would. They already thought he had a secret side he didn't tell people about, but they just assumed it was him being Death. Death wouldn't come in and make friends with them though, he would have come in and destroyed them. He's destroyed all their preconceptions of him. Now all they know, is that they know nothing. All they can believe is what they're seeing, and he's doing a great job of convincing with the way he looks that he's more evil than any of them. Hold on…

"…He goes by, Spade," Rancor said. He had hesitated when Zach told him to just say it, as Rancor wanted to speak in private as his men did not know this yet. "Brings in all the drugs from South America on a ship where all the workers are actually villains in disguise. They ship a lot of other goods too, a real legitimate business they created, in order to keep hidden from Death." Zach nodded with his expression getting darker as Rancor mentioned that name. Rancor nodded in agreement with that dark look, "Apparently once you leave Japan these days, it's a lot more dangerous to do any kind of villain activity out in the open."

How much is all that? Spade. The time of their next shipments. I think I have everything I need. I'd have to stay much longer to try and drag everything out of every last one of them. Zach's lips stayed curled down after they lowered when Rancor mentioned Death. His face did not return to the cocky, villainous look it had stayed in from as soon as he entered the room. "It's just as dangerous here now," Zach countered Rancor. He's still waiting for me. Waiting for me to build off all he just told me. Tell him that his plans are great and we can do it together. You look so fucking excited, you small piece of shit. His look in a second, the moment it hits him, it's going to suck. "Because I'm back."

The room was frozen. People's hearts had already started to speed up a little, getting nervous at the way Lifebringer looked and how his expression had shifted. His tone changed, his expression had lost its villainous appearance, but it did not become heroic either. His eyes were just cold and back to their normal hazel shade. He stood there staring down at them after what he just said, telling them how it was just as dangerous to do villain activity in Japan now that he was here. The fact that he countered like that, right after Rancor said it was more dangerous everywhere else because of Death, put the doubt in their minds. It fed the fear they already had before this. They stared towards Lifebringer, a few of them taking steps back as they lost their smiles and excited looks.

The look on Rancor's face changed slowly, as he had come to fully believe that he was about to start a whole new villain enterprise alongside Lifebringer as his "in" with the heroes. The betrayal hit Rancor, but the look of betrayal never came to his face. No one could breathe. Lemillion held his breath in his hiding space, a position he had moved to so he could get a better look into the room. He had never in his life seen so many faces shift so quickly to such absolute, hopeless dread. None of them were confused. They all believed it enough to not even be surprised, and they all understood that the only reason they were going along with it in the first place was because of how much they wanted to believe that what was happening was real. They all hoped with everything they had that he was not actually going to arrest them, and the longer he pulled the bluff the more hope they had, but their hope was shattered and their dreams dashed.

And then Death fell upon them. Zach's body ignited in a black flame. It flared atop the truck in a huge fire shape, but his actual body shot out of that flame in the same second it ignited. He landed one foot in front of Rancor with his fist pressing forward into Rancor's face in the same momentum of his landing. He took his next step forward and sent Rancor flying off his fist into the door to the room, slamming it shut with Rancor's unconscious form slouched on the inside of it, effectively locking them all inside this closed windowless room. A breath of black steam came out of Zach's mouth, as he stood there after his punch with his arm extended and no one attacking him.

It was like every one of the villains held on to a small hope that Lifebringer had just attacked because he wanted to get rid of Rancor. Maybe Rancor was getting too uppity with him, too cocky like he still had power in the gang, but this time they realized sooner that it was only their own false hope making them believe something stupid like that. They knew what was happening. They knew how Lifebringer could do something like this. Fight them in this way.

Some of them tried to fight.

Most surrendered.

Zach knocked them all out.

The ones who tried to fight he removed from the equation first. The ones who looked most ready to go after him, who he already knew would react fastest from when he stood on top of the truck watching them all through his red eyes, examining each and every one of the gang members he was getting ready to take down. He took them out efficiently. He purposely avoided hitting the ones down on their knees in his first attacks, though purposely aimed close to those people to show the others that maybe going down on their knees was the move to save them. So over three quarters of the villains surrendered and dropped to their knees, some of them covering their heads with their hands and curling up more, making others do the same as it looked like Zach avoided them specifically too, or so they hoped.

Even if this was Death, even if Lifebringer had the ability to kill them all, the rumors they heard told them that maybe he wouldn't. Mercy was possible for him. What if- The ones thinking like that found themselves unconscious on the ground in mid-thought about Zach's mercy. Zach lifted his hands and aimed fingers at the ones down on their knees. Some shouted at him to wait, others tried a last ditch attempt at fighting like the ones who moved first, but in the end, thin black lines pierced through all their chests and out their backs. They collapsed to the ground on their faces and stomachs, a few on their backs if they were leaning backwards when they got hit.

"Thanks for all the information," Zach said, looking to his right at the unconscious body of a woman with long straight orange hair. He looked around the place full of illegal weapons and drugs, then at some of the villains he knocked out who had just seemed afraid that whole time. Shouldn't join a villain gang if you aren't villain material. Too bad they'll try all of you the same way. Except the ones who have warrants out. Shouldn't be too bad though. Rehabilitation is possible. Zach pulled his phone out and called the police, while turning a man over with his foot so the heavyset guy was not resting on his nose any longer.

"Yeah, I'd like to report… I- I heard gunshots," Zach's voice was higher pitched and nervous as he spoke into his phone. His expression matched the panicky and scared voice he was using, and yet he casually walked over to a table on the side of the room and picked up a gun in his left hand. He lifted the submachine gun in front of him while wearing a glove, and he kept talking in a nervous tone while holding his phone to his head in his right hand, "No, I'd like to leave it as an, anonymous tip? Please, I don't know if anyone got hurt. The address was, 1272 Edogawa Road. It's an old building, looks abandoned but I definitely heard gunshots inside. I, I used my Quirk too to listen in, it's a sensory Quirk- that's why I'm staying anonymous. I just thought it would be useful to let you know what I heard them talking about…"

Zach pinched the bridge of his nose with a couple fingers of his left hand, keeping the gun to the side with other fingers though the cold steel did brush his face as he grabbed his nose in annoyance. Japanese police aren't used to this at all. Just accept the fucking tip you pigs- I'm not a villain. Calm down. Zach lowered his hand from his nose and took in a deep breath. "Well I'll just tell you anyway. Please, it's pretty important. They were talking about this other villain, Spade, who's apparently going to meet them…" Zach listed off some useful information in a way he was positive would work out well, unless the officer he was speaking to happened to be on someone's payroll. After finishing he hung up quickly, as he had given up the address earlier in the conversation and needed to go before heroes arrived.

Zach started for the door, but he turned the gun in his left hand to the side and fired off half a mag. He just dragged the gun up as he fired, lighting up the floor up to the corner of a wall. Then he turned the gun and fired to another part of the room without hitting anyone. Then he tossed the gun aside and kicked Rancor's body away from the door, and he headed out.

Lemillion ran out of hiding to the closest body to him. He dropped down next to it and checked the man's pulse. I should have come out sooner, Lemillion scolded himself, as even the possibility that Lifebringer had just murdered them all was enough that he knew he should not have let it happen. Mirio Togata stood up and glanced around the room. The bodies were scattered all over the place. Some looked in the middle of fighting, others like they were running, and Lifebringer had moved a few with his feet while he walked around during that call. He said there were gunshots. The tip would have been suspicious if there weren't. It sounded so genuinely like a concerned citizen. Anonymous tips, Lemillion ground his teeth and glared over towards the door of the room that Sazaki just left through.

I have to leave this to the police. He's getting away! Lemillion realized that Zach would have been rushing out of there, and he sped after the younger man. He calmed himself after a second, reminding himself that Sazaki was going to be on the lookout to make sure no one saw him escaping from there, so he needed the kid not to see him while also making sure he could follow him away from the crime scene. I want to take care of this, but there's no telling where Sazaki goes from here. Is he going to Kobe himself? Then to Brazil?! Who knows with this kid. Is he Death? The way he looked at them, he certainly convinced most of them in that final moment of their freedom, that he was Death. They all believed it, and because of that…

They'll be out long enough they won't be able to warn Spade, Zach thought as he fled. Their process is dumb. A guy like Spade, he should be smarter than that. I asked Rancor if they had to call first so Spade would know they're coming, but the times are set in stone. He will be there tonight. The shipping containers the police know are marked in the way I described will be opened. Heroes can do this. If Spade had to confirm it was them, I might've had to keep this going all night. If he picked a different dock each time, but that would require bribing more dock workers and bringing more people into it risking someone talking. Always hard choices, always bad consequences. Hindsight sucks for him in this case, but if he tried being more careful someone might've missed a call for no reason and fucked up profits for nothing, or other people who might always be watching certain docks…

Zach ran for the part of the lot on the opposite side as the road. He jumped up twelve feet and right over the fence, and he ran between two buildings to the other side where he just started casually walking down the sidewalk in the direction of the station. In the distance he heard sirens, and the dark sky was illuminated in some red and blue light to one side of him. As he walked he turned his head, like a regular citizen looking over to see what was going on. A hero jumping on rooftops ahead of him went by and around the corner without looking Zach's way. He was glad there were another two people on the sidewalk and a couple cars on the road too. Warehouse club isn't too far ahead. Should get closer to that and head from there towards the station.

Lemillion followed after Lifebringer again. He suspected Zach would go the opposite way as the road he came in from, and he was able to track him back the direction he came from. The whole time, the young hero had a pissed-off expression on his bland face, his expression dark as he followed Zach. Is it illegal? I'm so… I thought he was a villain there for a second. What he talked about at dinner could be considered regular conversation. Sure, he heard that the Karbos would know, but he still could have just gone there for coffee. Once he saw something illegal, it's his responsibility with a provisional license to do something. And though he was bluffing, there really was stuff in that back room. Not calling the police could be though. Creating C.I.'s, his file said he's done it before. He had confidential informants back in his first year at U.A. That information had an asterisk next to it though, as his connections with the Anti-Heroes countered the C.I. argument, possibly. Hearing about the Double Trigger, he went to see if there really was a crime there. Calling the police if there was nothing, just because he heard something, that's not the extent of what he could do. He heard there was a crime going on and went to check it out himself. That's fine. Pretending to be someone else though, pretending to be evil to get them to explain… it's not standard. It's not, it's not how heroes are supposed to act. The way he just tricked them and acted, he took most of them down without having to fight them. He convinced them- less of them were willing to fight him in the end than they were at the start when he had gotten the drop on him. He could argue away that all he said was just a way to get the villains to surrender peacefully.

But then there's the anonymous tip. He called with that instead of as Lifebringer, because he knows he did something wrong. He knows he wasn't allowed to do this. And he lied to the police. He called in a fake report. He fired an illegal weapon. There are crimes he has committed now. If Lifebringer was arrested though, for capturing a lot of villains and trying not to take credit for it… It's impossible. If I had stepped in during the act, then maybe- but he hasn't proved any ill intentions yet! Not that he was Death, not that he still is! He scared the senses out of some villains… after finding them in a couple of hours. He had no idea what he was going for this morning, did he? No idea where the day would take him? Lemillion slowed down as he followed after Lifebringer. He watched the teen with his mask back up talk to some people on the sidewalk outside of a club, and those people laughed along with him at something he said.

The college students who pre-gamed hard before heading to the club told the person asking how awesome the club was, and Zach had to apologize and laughingly say another time at a dude who called at him to go in with them. Maybe another night, Zach thought, as he headed away from the club towards the nearby station. Right now, I've got to get to the outskirts of the city. I could've gone to the edge not far from here, but heroes might head that way looking for the other gang who left all those guys in such a sorry state. I'll head around the loop before I start…

If Sazaki knew where he was going, if he had made plans beforehand, traps could be laid for him. Is that why he's acting immediately on everything he sees? Because if he waits, a trained assassin would get ready for him? Are there others following him right now? No, he's done enough shaking off today to… except, I can track him. If Sazaki is Death, then Eziano Mozcaccio is a possibility. It could be someone related to that Shadow Boss. Deku mentioned the name before. He doesn't know how much it means. He seemed to understand a little, but that he's a Shadow Boss is classified. Eziano's name is classified too. And that's all we know about him, his name. Do you know? How much do you know? Togata glared towards the target he was tracking. What is your plan here? What did you hear in there that has you heading to the station? Is it Kobe?

Are you going to try and get there before the police- why would he tell them in that tip in the first place though? He could have called with another after dealing with the ship on his own, but he's letting heroes deal with it. He even kept more vague than how Rancor talked about some of it. I'd almost say that's withholding information, but I could have pieced that stuff together without it being spelled out. A citizen who just heard the other stuff wouldn't have pieced it together like that though, not how the system of trade really works. Lifebringer put that together though. He wasn't surprised by any of it. He's calm. He's just, doing whatever he wants! He is dangerous. The way he took them down was not just effortless because of his Quirk. He shattered their wills, getting them to snitch to him in hopes that he was their friend. He betrayed them. Sazaki knows how much betrayal hurts, how crushed it could make someone, and he destroyed them after giving them hope that he was on their side. That kid, did it easily. He walked straight in, and he got them to… is he Death? To be that good, at doing things in this way? A regular vigilante- even one trained by an anti-hero society, who was also a villain once himself… and now back here to be a hero? What is he- what are…

Who are you, Lifebringer? And where are you going?

Zach got to the train station and hopped on a train that was heading to the farther end of the line from the side of the city he was on. I'll do a lap of Yutapu on foot for the rest of the night, Zach thought, grinning as he took a seat on the train. He stretched out his legs and relaxed, as he was going to have a long walk ahead of him and would not be able to sit for a while. See what the rest of the outskirts are like. There are probably some more places that look even more suspicious in the dark than that last one. I doubt there are many other gangs working out of Yutapu. Those guys seemed strong enough that there would've been a turf war between the gangs, which would've drawn hero attention. Rancor said no one even competes with them in Yutapu too. It's a big city, but even a big city is small for villains when there aren't many around. All heroes can just be focused on the ones who are there. Might be something though. Might see some lights where there shouldn't be lights. Or maybe, it'll just be a nice walk. Hope you didn't plan on me heading home tonight, Lemillion. Because you're in for a fun weekend.

The next morning, Zach headed back towards the center of Yutapu. Lemillion was as angry as the angriest he had been the night before, as he stood on the corner of a building feeling tired and done with this.

After such an exciting start to the night, Zach had started a walk after a long train ride. The slow descent into realization that nothing more was going to happen crushed Lemillion's resolve to see everything Zach did. Only about five percent of the time he had been following Zach, anything of interest had happened. He understood that this happens often on a stakeout, but the last ten hours seemed to be intentionally to piss him off. Zach wanted to take a nice walk around the city, seeming partially focused on the outskirts of Yutapu, but also multi-tasking as he got back to studying again with his phone that never seemed to run out of batteries.

The sun was rising, and Lemillion yawned as he glanced up at the sunrise and realized he had been up all night. He was feeling bored, and he shook his head around to refocus on Sazaki, which just made him angry again to cover up the boredom. He checked his phone again, and he saw a new message about a case he had asked to be kept in the loop about. The notification this time made Lemillion freeze up though, and he lifted his phone up in front of his face and read what he just saw closer.

Spade talked. The plea deal hooked him! They've got the people Spade bribed at different countries' ports, as well as some producers of the goods his company was shipping. A shipping company being completely used as a front. It's insane. None of the workers could get suspicious and check the crates, because they all know anyway. Spade only hired people willing to become part of it. Must have gotten his crew from villains without warrants all over the world. Stay legitimate while making sure they weren't moles. It was smart. He did things smart. Not smart enough though. He got ratted out… to Lifebringer. Villains don't talk. They have a code, and they don't talk to heroes. Everyone knows it. Spade talking is amazing. With how big his enterprise is though, without talking he would have been seeing life for sure. With how widespread he was though, Lemillion lowered his phone and he glared down towards Lifebringer's back on the street below.

Zach went for a breakfast sandwich, then he headed to a nearby coffee place and ate his breakfast with a nice cup of coffee that Lemillion was really hoping for right now. The hero watching from outside and across the street, in a disguise over his hero costume, stared at the cafe jealously. Is it the coffee? How is he staying so, chipper? He looks well rested and fresh out of bed. He's smiling and talking to the people who recognize him. No one knows he spent the entire night just wandering around outside of the city. No one knows he took down two dozen villains, and no one ever will unless I reveal it. I should put it in my report, but until I find proof that he's Death I can't reveal that I'm following him! I can't! Lemillion bit into another energy bar. He took an emphatic first bite, but he slowed down and ate it in a painfully slow way as he did not feel energetic about this anymore.

He hasn't done anything vigilante related for hours. Lemillion lifted his phone, but he quickly pocketed it. Lemillion started away to get far from Lifebringer when he saw the kid getting up to pay for his coffee. Lemillion got in an alley and climbed up the walls, jumping from side to side as he ran up the walls using anything at his disposal. He got back up to the roof and yet still hid while out of sight. He needed not to be seen by heroes who might be jumping or flying by on patrols, as well as stay hidden from villains who might be tracking Sazaki. Most importantly he needed to hide from Sazaki himself, which was feeling harder and harder to do the more he told himself that what he had seen so far was confirmation of his suspicions that Lifebringer was Death.

Lemillion pulled back out his phone, as he made a rebuttal to his own suspicions in his head that "Would Death really spend a whole night just walking around on his phone?" Lemillion paused his own internal argument about the person he was following, as he read another message from a hero friend keeping him in the loop about that case. So quickly? Heroes around the world are preparing simultaneous raids to prevent any of the others who hear about what happened from getting spooked and escaping. Some could have moved sooner, but this, this will be…

Zach let out half a yawn, but he shook his head around and got back to walking around with a clear mind. His focus was scattered everywhere: the people on the street around him he had to check to see if they recognized him and how he should react when they did, the hero following him on the rooftops, and his lookout for any other possible stalkers. He put a headphone back in at a low volume too, though he was streaming morning world news from his phone instead of the macroeconomics lecture he had been listening to before making it to the coffee shop.

Shouldn't go back to that Burger Lando for a couple days. Give them time. No need to rush it. Zach started towards the second biggest park in Yutapu. He walked to the Ieyasu Park and took all the different trails and sidewalks around it. He stepped off the sidewalk on occasion when no one was looking, (except for the person following him), and he checked down in riverbeds near the streams that cut through the park that the occasional sidewalk bridge would cross over. He saw a sewer drain in one area sticking out of a rock structure made to transform the sewer into something nicer. Zach passed a few homeless people as he walked the park, and he looked at them closely as he went by.

Then he stopped in front of a building in the park. It was up a little from the sewer, near the edge of the park itself and in a section that had more trees and no real trail leading to it. There was a fence on the other side of the building, though the road off the park did not start for a little after the fence, some scattered trees on the other side instead. Zach looked around from the end of the ragged path he went down. Barely any signs anyone's been here lately. This place looks fully abandoned. No stepping stones near the windows, and most are cracked but not wide enough to slip through. Plans for this place got scrapped a couple years back, but there should have been enough in the budget for it before cancellation that it would have gotten farther than this…

The hell is he doing? Lemillion ground his teeth in frustration as he hid in a forest Zach just walked through for some reason. Zach might have had a bit of an old path to move down, but everything around that small path was difficult to walk in, and Lemillion could make parts of his body permeable but not all the time so he was in a very uncomfortable place to be. Checking out old abandoned areas, making connections with shady people, getting in with the homeless? It's like he's establishing himself right in front of me. He can't do this. He's not a hero. Where is he going?! Lemillion bit down and watched from a distance as Zach turned back and headed back into a more public area of the park.

Man, he is dedicated. I don't think he's taken a break since yesterday morning. Zach glanced over his right shoulder as he walked through the park. Am I smirking at you, or just trying to coax a villain tracking me into showing himself? It's a bluff, don't worry.

Is he looking towards me? What is that look? Togata stayed still where he was, hidden from sight yet nervous as Zach's expression said he knew he was being followed. No, he's just trying to see if someone jumps because they think they got caught. He wants me to slip up. No he wants someone to slip up. He's not as good at this as he thinks though. His cocky attitude isn't just a guise. He acts with confidence in everything he does. He has no hesitation to break rules as long as he achieves his goals. Lifebringer, doesn't think about the consequences. He'll do whatever he wants until it gets someone hurt, gets people killed, and gets him thrown back in prison or forced to run. He had a chance to live a normal life… Togata watched his target darkly, his lips curled far down. There was no signature Lemillion smile on his face. His phone buzzed in his pocket and his teeth just clenched as he suspected a notification.

Lemillion pulled out his phone to see a message from his agency. Deku and Explosion King were on patrol in Tokyo with a sidekick of Lemillion's who was actually pro licensed so that it was alright. The interns had broken off from Scorchle and stopped a robbery at a Shake N Sandwich, and Scorchle sent him a report on what happened as well as a question about when he might return from his solo mission. The press asked his sidekicks about him since he was not there that morning, and they could only give that he was out on a different mission. None of them knew what his current task was. None of them knew who he was tracking. Do I bring the agency into it? It's under my discretion how to handle this now. Using Todoroki Shoto may be too much, but the two of them, if they hear what I have already, would they go for it?

I could have spent the weekend with them. Do more than… or I could have brought them along, to give me more insight. Deku at least, since Explosion King wouldn't have been able to handle something like this. Deku could keep up though. Deku's too earnest though. If I tell him, he might go to his friend. He might warn him… no, Deku's a good friend, but he understands being a hero comes first. He will.

---

Zach put his phone in front of him leaning against the napkin dispenser on his table. He had his headphones in so the ringing of his phone did not disturb other nearby patrons, and he had on a cap instead of the beanie he was wearing earlier. The beanie was in the pocket of his jacket draped over the chair behind him, both of his gloves were on, and he had his head down as he sat in a slouched position to hide as well as possible.

Zach was in the food court at a mall in Yutapu. It was a different one than the one he went to with Ashido the week before, slightly bigger but with a much bigger food court that had a wider variety of options. Zach sat with an expression on his face like he was watching a video, and with the hot dog on his plate with some fries next to it, he looked like any other mall-goer. His phone rung a couple more times before connecting to one of the three people Zach just called up. He was not using his phone's regular call function, but he had called using the mall's wifi through the hero website that allowed heroes to get in touch with other heroes easier.

Not surprised by the order, Zach thought. All three were slow to answer the call. He supposed they looked at the caller I.D. and did a few double-takes before answering, coming up with how they were going to respond as none of them were expecting this sudden call. None of them were expecting a four-way call either to be the first call they had with Lifebringer, but all three still picked up. First Power Loader picked up, then Grappler a second later. It took two more seconds for the third person to answer, and Zach watched as Endo's face appeared on one third of his screen with two other faces on his left.

"Sazaki," Power Loader started, only pausing for a second because the others were still connecting. "What is this about-"

"Why are you calling?" Roady snapped, a more pissed expression on his face. The man a couple years older than Zach with spiky orange hair glared into Zach's eyes through his computer screen. He was sitting in Bikergang's agency, back to work after a long absence though as a support member at the agency rather than a hero out in the field. Keiko looked over towards her comrade for a moment but got back to a call she was in with Bouncer Man.

Zach lifted up his left arm and held it across his body as he slid back from the table. Grappler had yet to say anything to the boy, instead just looking into his eyes once looking like he had a lot he had to say, yet was not sure about saying it in front of others. Power Loader stared just confusedly at his screen though, no personal reasons hindering him from just being focused on what Zach had called him for. "Power Loader, I remember how you got your arm ripped off by Saberclaw at the Sports Festival." The other two heroes on Zach's phone looked to the hero-teacher who was off duty so did not have his unique helmet over his head.

Higari Maijima lifted his right hand up to his left shoulder and rubbed around where his prosthetic limb started. He lifted the prosthetic too after a second to show the others. Maijima did not have his helmet on which revealed his long orange hair covered up his eyes with draped bangs falling to his nose. Power Loader turned his left arm in front of his face and showed it off to the group. "I remember something like that happening," Power Loader mentioned. Zach looked closely at the arm as Power Loader showed it off, and it looked more impressive than most prosthetics he had ever seen before. It made sense to him considering his teaching job in the development of hero tools, and Power Loader seemed proud of the arm he had made since he lifted it right up when Zach mentioned what happened.

Grappler's eyes grew wide though after he stared at the arm for a couple seconds wondering why Sazaki had called him for this. Does Sazaki, want me to… Grappler frowned. The man with no arms shifted his gaze to Roady for a second too, and he knew about the incident with him that made the younger man's teeth bare after he put together what Grappler already had.

Before either of them could speak up, Zach popped his left arm off his side. He took his arm off and he kept his same posture, same look on his face, and unless someone was already staring towards him he would not draw any extra attention to himself even as he slid his arm forward halfway out of his sweatshirt's sleeve. "While I was abroad," Zach started, interrupting the two he saw about to get angry at him or start talking about whatever it was they wanted to talk about. "I lost my arm. This arm though, feels, exactly like my old arm used to. Almost," Zach finished at the end less strongly, shrugging his right shoulder to show it could not be exactly the same, but the motion was subtle to say there was not much of a difference.

"What are you-" Power Loader began as he stared at the arm closely.

"While you were abroad?" Roady questioned, lifting his eyebrows up and asking in an exasperated tone that Zach was going to word it like that. "What were you doing 'abroad?'"

"Sazaki," Grappler finally started. "There are things-"

"I didn't call to talk about myself, or about the things I did," Zach started, shaking his head at the group staring at him through his phone. Zach pulled his arm more out of his sleeve and then turned it over in front of his phone for the men to see. Even if someone looked over to see Zach doing this now, he figured they would more than likely assume it was part of his Quirk and suspect much less that he was Lifebringer. "Looks real, doesn't it?"

"You had them put the scars in the same place?" Roady muttered after a second, as he had opened his mouth to snap that that was really Zach's arm only to hold off on it. He shook his head in annoyance, then his eyes shifted down to his prosthetic right leg under the desk he was sitting at. He had a cane leaning against his desk too, and his eyes darkened as he shifted them back to the screen. "I don't want a new prosthetic- I don't need-"

"It's not just a prosthetic," Zach said. He interrupted Roady again and made the sidekick of Bikergang grind his teeth in frustration, pulling his head back with a warning look at Zach to do that again. Zach slid his arm back up his sleeve when it was almost out, doing it with little difficulty and then reaching up towards his shoulder and twisting it around. He locked it in place, then he lifted his left hand and put it close in front of the screen. Zach curled in his fingers, one by one, and then he reached over to his left hand and pulled his glove off. Zach showed them his palm. The skin looked normal. He had veins going through it, and scars where his old scars should have been. A scar they had all seen of a spike going through that left hand, left the circular darkened mark on his palm and the back of his hand.

"This new arm of mine, is connected to my nervous system," Zach explained to the men watching his fingers. Power Loader lifted his eyes up from the hand to Zach's face in disbelief for a second, then his eyes widened more behind his bangs as Zach continued, "The limb is built using Quirk combinations. Pieces connected through other Quirks, and the arm has nerves, an entire system of them to replace all the ones I lost, and when it connected back into my shoulder the systems lock together." I can't tell you how exactly. The specific Quirks, the Cyborginization, or how strong this metal really is. It's not something you'll be able to re-engineer. "I'm just telling you, because losing my arm, made me a better hero."

Grappler froze completely, his eyes rising back up to stare into Zach's. Roady ground his teeth in anger that Zach would just say that, while Grappler was in more disbelief at what he heard. Zach added after what he just said, "The arm is stronger than my old one. Takes more to damage it. And I have perfect control, the neurons sending as fast as originally so the arm responds when I want it to move. I barely notice the difference. And, I could get any of you a limb like this, if you want."

"The tech you're describing," Power Loader began, shaking his head at Sazaki as he started it. Zach looked him in the eyes though and cracked a small smile at how Power Loader started his sentence, making the teacher unable to finish it and to just stare back at Zach's left arm instead.

"You think this is going to make up for it?" Roady asked. His voice was low, and Zach looked back at his old friend who just glared harshly at him for a second, then hung up the call.

"Sazaki, if you wanted to have a serious call," Grappler paused. He sighed and he leaned forward over the computer. He used his head and shut the laptop, then he leaned back on his chair and let out a long breath. Grappler frowned while staring at his closed computer, and his head turned to the right and then the left. The former hero looked around his empty house, quiet… and his eyes lowered to his right shoulder. In his head appeared the snarling face of that black beast. CRACK! RRIIPPP! He clenched his eyes shut, hearing the cracks of his bones, the sound of his flesh ripping. The look on the Nomu's face and its roar, rippled through the man's mind. His head turned back and he stared at his computer with less of an upset frown at the boy who just called him, instead just a distant look of shameful self-pity.

Power Loader looked back at Sazaki after seeing the other heroes end the call early. "It's not going to be easy," Power Loader said, making Zach's eyes widen for a moment as Power Loader seemed to read his thoughts. He figured his expression gave it away after the two who he was more hopeful for both ended the call without even responding. Power Loader gave him a smile though and added, "But that arm of yours is something. You can really feel it, and there aren't any bugs? I know people have been trying for fake limbs for a while better than regular old prosthetics."

"I'm sure your arm's much better than a 'regular old' anything," Zach countered.

Power Loader looked surprised for a second before chuckling and shaking his head. "You've got that right. But still," Zach's face lit up and a brighter smile came to it at how his old teacher was responding. "I'd like to take you up on this offer. How much would it cost me for something as high-tech as that?"

"I'll get you an estimate," Zach offered. "I just need you to send me your measurements after the call. I'll transfer them over, and I'll let you know as soon as I get back from them…" Nice. He looks like he's buying it. If I told him it was free now, he'd be a little more hesitant and question how I have that sort of influence or money. I'll just get it sent to U.A. for him… well, one of the techs might need to come with it to set up his shoulder too. I'll figure it out later. Zach bullshitted half of the conversation he was having with Power Loader but spoke in a believable way and seemed pretty excited that Power Loader accepted the offer.

"Yeah, yeah I'll get you all that in a bit. Thanks for this, kid." Zach started shaking his head to say no problem, but Maijima continued, "Listen, Sazaki. Me losing my arm, it had nothing to do with you-"

"I know that," Zach cut in quickly.

Power Loader cut right back in, "But neither were those other two. They might not have said it, and you might not have made it out like you feel that it was, but you got to understand something. Just because you were there at the time, didn't make it your fault. Grappler and Roady, I heard about them, we all heard about them." Zach's lips were flat and he watched his old teacher seriously, nodding once when Power Loader paused to see if Zach was following. "Whether or not there was something you could have done, you didn't take their limbs."

"Hindsight's twenty-twenty," Zach said. He stared into his old teacher's eyes through his bangs, an unusual feeling for Maijima who did not usually lock eyes with people who could not see his. Zach's expression was serious as he just said that. His eyes were intense, and he nodded in understanding at Power Loader who was trying to get that point to him. "I know. But thank you, sensei." Zach rose up the corners of his lips again into a small smile. "And get me that information soon. This arm's really amazing. You won't regret it."

"Just hoping it's in my price range," Power Loader admitted. How can an arm like that…

"I'll see what I can do," Zach said, and before he could get questioned on that he ended the call. This is great. Can help Power Loader. Maybe he'll speak to the other two, make them actually listen to the proposal instead of just being focused on the fact that it's me offering it. Zach started back into his lunch, and he ate quickly and in a good mood. They didn't curse me out or anything just for calling. Really thought that might happen with Roady, if he even picked up. Which he did! Not that bad.

Zach checked out a couple stores in the mall once he was done eating, but after enough people noticed him that he figured more were going to show up at the mall looking for him, he left. He walked back out on the street and pulled his mask up despite it being in the middle of the day and actually a little warmer than the day before. It was still cold, so a warm face-mask was not going to draw that much attention. Zach just walked calmly down streets of Yutapu, his hands down in his jacket's pockets and his eyes wandering about.

Lemillion trailed behind, bags forming under his eyes. He was coming to realize that even if he only spent certain days following Zach around like this, he might need a second person to help him out so he could get some rest between shifts. Togata felt unsatisfied from his last meal, he was tired yet forcing himself to stay alert which had him frowning more- since his heightened alertness seemed to be for no reason when Zach had not done anything for sixteen hours now.

Lemillion felt a buzz in his pocket and pulled out his phone. He looked at a message that should have made him happy, but his eyes got so much darker instead. He rose them from his phone to a boy down on the street crossing at an intersection. I can't believe this. He, did it. It was him. And now, I definitely can't say it was him, or they'll give him all the credit for it. Is that his plan? Keep it a secret so that when it does come out, it seems like we kept it secret to prevent people… he didn't have to do it like that though. It's a roundabout way, and he has no proof it was him- and he'd screw himself by saying anything! But then, how? How is he using that?

Zach walked past a store with televisions in the window, but he stopped and stepped back to turn and look in through the glass. A few others walking by the store stopped and looked in too, and the groups there talked to each other in excited voices. Smiles spread on faces, but none bigger than the amazed one on Zach's face as he watched the news report going on. Lemillion glared harder down as he read Zach's expression, catching a glimpse of the breaking news story he had gotten word about a couple minutes before.

On the news, the anchors were discussing the breaking story of how heroes caught several drug traffickers all around the world that morning. Wow, Zach thought as he saw clips of different ports with dock workers being arrested, small factories and warehouses that got raided and tables lined up with their drugs while criminals were escorted away in the background, and he saw heroes in charge of the raids going up for press conferences in their respective countries to discuss the combined effort. The heroes really acted fast. They've gotten their shit together, Zach continued to smile as he watched the tvs. There were a couple different news stations turned on, all talking about the same breaking story that had to get released to the public all at once because the raids had all been timed to be simultaneous and kept quiet about until the operation was done.

They kept villains from finding out it was happening. Just keeping it off the news, that's all it takes to catch them off guard. The heroes are more organized than the villains now, more international and more in-contact than the villains can be. And with all those arrests, they'll find even more villains. Some are sure to talk, given the right incentive. I wonder if Spade was really easy to crack, or if the heroes just offered him a lot in a plea deal to be able to work so much out so quickly? For this much- he may have gotten barely any sentence. They needed to do it fast like this though, or others would have scattered hearing what happened to Spade, so they might have offered him a great deal right away and explained to him that the offer would only decrease in value with time. The less they could get, the less tempting a deal they need to make, Zach turned from the screens and he started down the sidewalk. His heart beat slowly and his face relaxed, a light look of relief spread over it as he let out a long, heavy breath. It's how I would've done it…

Zach walked through Yutapu, feeling lighter on his feet than he had the rest of the weekend. He looked up into the sky and watched a couple birds fly over the tops of tall buildings. The sky above was blue with puffy white clouds moving slowly through it. As Zach Sazaki. I did that, stopped them… Just because I'm still going to keep quiet about it, doesn't mean it's not true. I was still Zach while doing it. I know how to- I know why it's important to stay in the shadows sometimes, even as a hero. Heroes accept conspiracy sometimes. We all have to.

Zach went back to a park he had been to earlier that day. He went into Ieyasu Park and looked to just be wandering again, but Lemillion watched him closely. Going to the same place in a close timeframe like this was unlike the teen he had been following so far this weekend. He trailed Zach back through the thick brush, but then he shook off the tired feelings he had as the kid went to the front door of an abandoned building near the edge of the park.

Development of the building looked to be on permanent pause, and the park forest rose around it so the building was hidden from the outsides of the park other than the closest side. That close side had a fence touching a side street a few dozen meters from the edge of the building, with sparse tree cover between the building and the road. Zach went up to the door of the building and he opened it up, turning the doorknob and pushing in like the door was unlocked.

Did he just break the lock? Lemillion did not get tricked by how easy it was for Zach, and he stared closely at the door to check for himself instead of just taking it at face value. He scouted this building out earlier. What's he doing here? Is he meeting someone? Did he come earlier to scope it out, so that he could check all the entry points and make sure it was safe? Who is he meeting? Something's going on here. Did he hear something at one of the other places he's been to? Did I miss him talk- his phone call wasn't suspicious. It was as… I need to get in there. The person could already be waiting. They may have left it unlocked for him. Whatever's happening in there, I need to see it.

Lemillion went around the back of the building. He spied in through windows looking for others who might be around, keeping as hidden as he could and even using his Quirk to effectively teleport around when he might get spotted moving from one vantage point to another. He found a clear location with no eyes on him, and no eyes inside, and Mirio Togata slipped into the old unfinished building that was three stories tall and worn down.

Togata entered and heard Sazaki right away on the floor above him. Keeping his footsteps quiet, Togata maneuvered through the park building towards a staircase there was a sign for on the walls. There was a dusty sign that looked recently brushed off, and Togata glanced at it to see they were in an old government building meant to be for park maintenance and waste management offices. The offices were not furnished, though the first floor looked mostly built. Once he got up to the second floor though, it looked like that was as far as they got before construction must have been cancelled.

There's a third floor? Togata thought with a glance up in surprise. The fact they got any farther was surprising when a divider in front of him was only the inner structure of the wall and a general foundation. The ceiling looked sturdy despite chipping in some areas, but the inner walls other than some support pillars did not look well-made. Looks like the ones who set this up had an idea the building was never getting finished. They didn't put much care into this place. Why is Sazaki here? How did he know that this place was abandoned- well, he could guess just by looking. But he did look to be checking- Lemillion ducked down, and he darted over on soft steps to some close-by cover.

Chhrrr-ssss The loud scraping of something hard dragging across the floor got Lemillion to hide. He realized what the sounds were that he heard downstairs, and he looked through some cover carefully. He kept his lower half solid as he eased his body through the cover, allowing him to control how much of himself he slid through until the smallest amount of his face stuck out for surveillance.

Zach walked back near the center of the room and picked up more cinderblocks from the stacks of them dispersed around the wide floor. The middle of the second floor was pretty empty; only the rooms for offices on the outside of the floor were built, and even most of those the walls connecting the inner main room to them were slotted and easy to see through. Zach kicked a couple broken pieces of cinderblock aside, then he reached down and picked up a few steel bars. The thin metal beams looked to be for the walls, and Zach slid them over to the walls and stacked them up to clear the floor as much as possible.

He kicked away all the loose debris, and he scraped his feet on the floor to clean the place up as much as he could. Zach kept his mask up as he did all this, as he was kicking up a lot of dust. Once he was finished though, he pulled his mask up and over his head. He took off his beanie, his thicker gloves, his jacket, though he kept his sweatshirt on as he tossed all his over-garments to a nearby support pillar they piled up against.

Zach walked over to another pillar in the section of the room he cleaned up. He reached his right arm across the front of his body and yanked on his tricep with his left hand, then he extended his arms up over his head to stretch out his back. Zach stuck his right leg out on the pillar and leaned his body in, pumping a couple times to touch his toes before lifting his left leg and doing the same. He cracked his neck to either side, rolled his head out, then he jumped and did a spinning kick into the pillar with his right leg.

Sturdy, but not too strong. I could break it. Zach backed off from the pillar and waved a hand in front of his face. He waved off the dust that fell from the ceiling around the top of the pillar, and he glanced up to see if any cracks had formed. Definitely not a stable floor above. No need to go up there though. Middle floor is good enough. Zach did some more stretching, and then he rose up his hands in front of him and started bobbing his head as he crouched down.

Zach stomped his right foot forward and punched his right and left hands. He punched right, right, left, right in an uppercut, a left jab three times. Then he stomped his left forward and kicked his right out, before dropping the right down hard and spinning to back-heel behind him with his left. As he did so, he imagined something flying at his face and leaned backwards. His leg was extended, so he dropped his hands out of their fists and grabbed onto the floor. He kicked up his leg he had planted and flipped backwards, kicking his extended leg to the side to twist himself during his flip.

Two knives were in Zach's hands as he came halfway through his flip, and he snapped his arms out after his hands lifted off the floor to throw his knives. One of the knives went into a hole in a cinderblock, while the other hit the rim of the hole of a different one and bounced off. Zach frowned as he landed, but he leaned backwards dodging an imaginary kick. He reached out to grab the kick, but he created three gunmen popping out of one of the rooms on the side of the building. They appeared out of nowhere, even his own thoughts working to try and catch him off guard. He jumped backwards though and pressed his left foot against the pillar that his clothes were resting on, and he pushed himself off in a jump across the room.

During his leap he kicked three times, and he did a spin and reached his right hand out to catch a knife flying at him. As he pictured himself catching it, he snapped his arm straight out and popped a knife from his right sleeve down into his hand. He spun the knife around in his grip and grabbed it by the blade, and he flicked it behind him hard. He landed and continued doing punches and kicks, though he smirked while facing the opposite direction as where he just flicked his knife.

Lemillion had managed to avoid yanking himself backwards, but the knife that hit remarkably close to where he was watching from was still in his peripheral vision a foot away on his left side. It had stuck into the finished wall blocking the hallway near the stairs from view of the main room, and Lemillion kept completely still as he knew making a noise would give away his position. Zach continued doing his motions without pause, so it was clear that the throw was coincidental…

Darkness seeped from Zach's hands, and he reached his right towards the side he threw his first two knives, his left behind him. Out from his arms extended longer, blacker arms. They stretched across the room, dropping down to the floor and then extending out like snakes away from his body. Zach was still faced away from Lemillion, but the hero in the wall watched the snaking black arm moving his way in complete apprehension. Lemillion disappeared back into the wall as Zach started to turn.

Zach grabbed his knives with the black hands that extended off his arms and reached across the room. His arms retracted back, the solid black forms of his arms pulling towards him so fast it looked like a wind pulling inside him. The darkness disappeared, and the knives were not in Zach's hands anymore, as they had gone back into hiding when his arms were completely shrouded in all that darkness. He stood there looking back into the empty room for a few seconds. The building was silent as he stood there, and as Lemillion hesitated on the other side of the wall wondering what was going on.

Zach continued his work out. He did combos, punched and kicked, and he did not focus on anywhere in particular. The sound of Zach training got Lemillion moving back into a position to spectate from, though he moved around a bit first to watch from a more hidden area he spotted during his first view. Lemillion got into the most hidden part of the floor he could find, deepest in the shadows because it was farthest from the windows and behind some pillars from the middle of the main room. He slid out of hiding and watched as Zach trained, This can't be the only reason he's here. Breaking into a government building, abandoned or not, just for this? What is he doing in here? He has Shiketsu to train-

"Lemillion."

Zach had his arm extended after his last punch, but he lowered it down after speaking that name aloud. His expression was steady, and he turned his head towards where Lemillion was watching him from. "You can come out. I saw you watching me back at the mall," Zach stated it and he just waited. He stared towards where Lemillion was hesitating, and he kept his arms down at his sides in no threatening pose. Lemillion was not fooled by a non-threatening pose though, not after what he saw the night before.

Lemillion slid out through the wall though. He emerged and then slid through his disguise that fell to the floor behind him as he walked forward. His costume stayed on, and Zach looked past Lemillion to the exterior layer of clothes he managed to slip through the wall with him and then precisely remove while staying dressed. Zach's eyes shifted back to Lemillion's bland face and the older hero's serious expression.

"Why are you following me?" Zach asked.

"What are you doing here?" Lemillion questioned back.

"I didn't want to call you out in public," Zach replied. He stared into Lemillion's eyes and said in a calm voice, "I figured you had a good reason, but I needed to make sure no one was nearby before I asked." Zach gave Lemillion a quizzical look. He looked genuinely interested in learning the reason Lemillion was following him.

He's fucking around with me. "I've been following you for a while," Lemillion stated. Zach's lips curled down a bit at the corners, but Lemillion continued without breaking eye contact, "Since yesterday."

"If you needed to ask me something, you could have given me a call," Zach said. His expression had not changed much, nor did his tone, but the mood of the conversation shifted at Zach's statement. He gave Lemillion nothing to work with, while still questioning him on what Lemillion was doing following him around. "Am I a suspect in a crime?" Zach asked, as Lemillion continued to stare darkly at him without saying anything for a few seconds.

"I saw what you did last night," Lemillion said. He specified, and he glared at Zach when the younger boy's expression got darker itself. "Confronting a gang of villains, using your Quirk on them, without a hero license."

"I have a hero license," Zach countered. He said it calmly, and he continued before Togata could speak, "And although provisional, if I see a crime occurring it is my job to step in."

"You didn't see anything 'occurring,'" Lemillion said. He looked darkly into Zach's eyes, and he stepped closer to the younger man who stayed still where he was and just gave Lemillion a more warning look that had the blond hero stop after the single step. Lemillion's fists balled, and he said in a low voice with the room full of tension, "You investigated on your own, and you made moves that are reserved for pro heroes to make-"

"I was having a look around the city I recently moved into," Zach said. He said it as darkly back at the older man. His eyes were cold and his voice dry, "I went to the coffee shop, because the people I had dinner with suggested I go there. I just wanted to know why that part of the city was known as a bad part," the right corner of Zach's lips curled up and he continued in a less confrontational voice, "but when I got there, I saw that the shop owners had drugs on them. They were out in the open, and that was something that I was able to investigate because I saw a crime right in front of me."

He was bullshitting. He knew I was following him from all the way back then?! Shit, all the way from yesterday morning? He never showed any sign- except he did, but I thought it was just him pretending to… and he knows that I'd think that. He's manipulative. Every move he makes is a lie. Every action he takes. But as smart as he is, he slipped up. If he knew I was following him all that time… if he knew, then, then- Lemillion ground his teeth behind his lips as Zach continued to stare at him waiting for Lemillion to respond to what he just said.

Lemillion knew he could counter about Zach not calling the police right then and there. He figured Zach had a response for that too though. And the next thing he could mention, he did not want to mention. If I say it, he gets credit. Only if I bring this conversation out of here. We both know. Lemillion's eyebrows narrowed down, his eyes getting darker, and Zach lowered his lips into a much more intense expression.

Alright Lemillion, let's get real, Zach saw the shift in his opponent's face. He had his hands down unthreateningly at his sides, but he saw Lemillion's had clenched there for a moment and were still more tensed up than his.

"The villains you knocked out last night," Lemillion started. Zach nodded, and Lemillion's pause lasted for another second as Zach did not try to deny it to his face. "The ones who woke up haven't said anything about who captured them. They haven't spoken to the authorities. They're all just staying quiet." Zach nodded, humming with a thoughtful look on his face like he was surprised. Lemillion continued darkly though, "I knew it would happen, because it always happens."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Zach said. He denied whatever Lemillion was accusing him of, shaking his head and giving a partially aggressive and partially confused look at Lemillion's last statement. "What are you saying? 'Always?' What 'always' happens?"

Saying that like he doesn't know how the Army of Death acts. Like he doesn't know that villains won't say shit, in fear of retribution. They shouldn't fear a hero. But it's not just about fear of him. They know that if they mention Death, other villains know they snitched. That's the main reason. And, it's true this time too. They snitched to Lifebringer. Just like they always snitched to Death, only without the torture… except, it's just as plausible, that Death "interrogated" villains in a similar way. How much truth are in those rumors? Or are the rumors just spread, to make it easier for them to do something like that? To make villains less likely to say anything about what happened to them? If they talked, and they said it was Zach Sazaki who came after them, they might be able to get him in trouble… but that's not what they're thinking.

Lemillion glared at Zach with his teeth clenched harder at all he was thinking. His eyes narrowed, and the tension got thicker as Lemillion stared deep into Zach's unwavering hazel eyes. Zach Sazaki killed villains. He killed six villains, and he got six months of jail time for it only to be allowed to come back and be a hero again. It's like, their lives don't matter. To society, villains' lives don't matter- except they know that's not true either. When it comes to other heroes, they do get in a lot of trouble if they do things outside of the rules. But Lifebringer, even before those villains were killed, everyone knew he broke the rules. Everyone knew he had killed villains before, he had joined the League of Villains, he did whatever he wanted! Seeing someone like that in front of them, they have no fucking idea how he'll act. I didn't know what he was going to do. No one knows, because Sazaki's a mystery. He's an enigma who gets away with, with murder! People love him and villains think we'll let him get away with anything. Villains think he's Death, just like I do. They think he has the ability to kill them, and they really don't know whether or not he'll do it. A loose cannon isn't a hero! That's not what heroes do. By the book, means something. We're not doing things his way. The law in Japan will not become the way the Army of Death acts. I won't allow it.

"I know," Lemillion started. "That you're-"

"Lemillion," Zach started, his voice raising in pitch and his head lifting up. He looked down his nose in an accusatory way, "Have you been following me, all this time?" Lemillion paused, looking at Zach confusedly and then with his eyes opening wider at the darker look covering Zach's face. "Now that I think about it, were you the one watching me at my apartment yesterday when I woke up? Wait wait," Zach shook his head, and he frowned like he was putting this all together.

"Stop with all the bullshit," Lemillion snapped. "I saw you take down over twenty villains who you had no right to be fighting-"

"It's weird that you'd know something like that though," Zach said. He glared at Lemillion and took a step towards him, and he asked in a confrontational tone, "You been stalking me or something? Watching my every move?" Zach was getting self-indignant, but to Lemillion it all sounded fake and he just ground his teeth more for a moment before freezing. Zach glared darker at his stalker, and he snapped, "Sure, I wouldn't have had a warrant to do those things, but do you have a warrant to come after me?" His emphasis on warrant made Lemillion hesitate. Before he could counter with a defense though, Zach continued in a lower voice, "To spy on my every conversation? Watch me at every meal?"

Zach took another step towards Lemillion as the older hero got a much angrier look over his face. "I was pardoned, Lemillion. That means you have no right to infringe on my right to privacy like you've been doing, especially when you have no ongoing investigation to do so."

"I do though-"

"Don't tell me that," Zach said, tilting his head back and to the right, glaring harder down at Lemillion than he was before. "You don't want to implicate anyone else in this. Any officials who you might've dragged in," Zach said it darkly, and then he leaned forward and growled at the hero who stared at him in shock at what the teen just snapped. "Because if you keep going like this, and I confront you in public next time, you know there'll be an investigation into your fucking stalking. And when you say that your investigation, is the same exact investigation Endeavor is supposed to be running? That your investigation is based on nothing except your own hunch and some circumstantial evidence you think points to me?" Zach bit down and he glared twice as hard at Lemillion, "I don't want to do this. I don't want to call you out, because you're a great hero the people look to, and I don't want everyone to turn on you for being a creepy fuck following Lifebringer around all day, watching him take shits and eat ramen."

"I didn't-" Lemillion cut himself off, deciding he did not need to finish that sentence. His eyes shadowed over at all Zach just said, then he said in a lower voice, "You can't do things like that-"

"Why not?" Zach asked. He asked it and gave Lemillion a harsh look when the hero lifted his head to look back at him. "Did you really have a problem with the way I handled them? I found out all that information without doing a damn thing to them. What's your problem?"

"You don't have a full license," Lemillion snapped. "You don't have the right, by law, to do the things you're doing-"

"Well I can't just sit around doing nothing," Zach said. He gave Lemillion a cold glare, and he turned his palms towards the man in front of him. Lemillion's fists balled tightly and rose up, but Zach lifted his hands slowly up in front of him and up at his sides in a surrendering pose. "You going to take me in?" Zach questioned it and he stood there in a defensive stance as Lemillion glared while in a fighting pose. Zach stared back into Lemillion's eyes and said in a lower voice, "I know why you don't want to. I know, that you really don't want to give me credit for what happened this morning. You're afraid it's going to happen, and you're right to be. They would think it was all me. They'd be wrong, but they'd give me all the credit."

"Shut up."

"Then take me. Take me in and charge me, and see if it holds up. See if the people who released me from prison for murder, are really going to throw me back in for capturing a group of villains without hurting them. See if they'll really have a problem with how I, a kid of eighteen years old, attempted to avoid taking credit for capturing dozens of international villains. You think they'll think it's because I was trying to avoid getting caught? No," Zach shook his head and gave Lemillion an even darker look, chilling his opponent who kept his hands raised in a fighting stance but was feeling less in control of this situation even as Zach held his hands up in surrender. "It would probably relieve some of them. The ones who think they really released me just so I could go back to school? The ones who thought that by releasing me, I'd be making the world a safer place. I have a duty to those people, and although I'll stay within the law- I'll do things by the law, as a hero, I won't just let villains get away with crime right in front of me. And to me, that was right in front of me."

Zach stepped forward towards Lemillion. He stepped forward and he said in a lower voice, "Because I can move around very quickly. Imagine if a crime was going on within five miles of All Might, and he called in a different hero to handle it because it was closer to them? That would be stupid. He's close enough to handle it himself. And with a provisional license, I can only deal with crimes right in front of me. A warehouse not far from where I was, might as well go check it out myself. I didn't have proof anything was really going on there. If those Karbo brothers were lying, I would have called the cops on them instead upon finding an empty warehouse. But instead I did find villains, and I was right there so I acted when I saw the villains, and the way I acted is the way I know how to act. It might seem un-heroic to you, and it might not be what you like, and it may make you think that I'm someone who I'm not, but it wasn't against the law. And when I defend myself like this, if you choose to turn me in for this 'crime' of capturing villains without hurting any of them, in a way that I got a ton of useful information without touching them, not one person is going to back you up."

"And Lemillion," Zach took another step towards the man in front of him who was just starting to lower his arms. Lemillion was lowering them, though he was opening his mouth to counter with something despite deciding that there was no way he could capture Sazaki here. "There's no one within thirty meters of us. I can extend Death out from my body in all directions, for over thirty meters. I could fill up every floor in this building, and all around the building, and the second you teleport I'll do it and there's no way you'll get out of my range before reappearing, and taking in a huge breath of Death." Lemillion's breath was stuck in his throat, and he stared at the teen straight in front of him without moving a muscle. Zach glared into Lemillion's eyes and said in a lower voice, "You're following me. You could be someone trying to kill me. Maybe I didn't know it was you, when I attacked the person stalking me. Maybe, I knew it was you, but I knew there was no way Lemillion would be following me in an illegal way like this, so he must have been working for the people trying to kill me. Test me."

Zach said 'test me' when he noticed a slight shift in Lemillion's expression. The tone he spoke in, made Lemillion completely believe that Zach would extend his Death as he just claimed he could to a range farther than he was ready to try and permeate himself out of. Lemillion's face got darker though even as he decided not to try and get out of range. He told himself Sazaki was not trying to fight him, but the argument Zach just used at the end to defend himself made him angrier than ever. "Hearing that from you-"

"Oh what?" Zach asked. His tone got sarcastic and he lowered his arms down to his sides. He did so and his body language showed he was not trying to fight, his expression shifting too. His last rant told Lemillion that this was all not just a place to "talk" to him, but it was a trap in itself and he had walked right into it, and right up to Sazaki so the kid had the largest range to attack him. Zach looked at Lemillion sarcastically and in a pissed way, "What's wrong? You don't want to hear that from me, because I bend the rules too? I bend the rules, so you decided to follow me without just-cause and spy on my every move? Is that not, bending the rules?" Zach asked it and looked at Lemillion like he was being a hypocrite, which just pissed off the blond much more.

"You aren't just bending the rules," Lemillion said. "You're Death. You're a murderer, and you aren't acting like a hero. Using your popularity as an excuse-"

"I'm not excusing my actions," Zach snapped. "Not like you're trying to defend yours, by saying that what I do is worse." Zach bit down and then scoffed at Lemillion's self-righteous expression, "Oh I get why you're angry. It's because bending the rules is okay, as long as it's you doing it." Zach gave Lemillion a threatening look, but it lowered after a second and Zach just let out a sigh. He lifted his head and looked down at Lemillion again, a calmer look on his face despite how tense and dark their conversation was. "You're wrong. I'm not Death. I know that's why you're following me, and I've denied it over and over. The way I do hero work though, is going to be influenced by all my experience in the many different paths I've followed."

"That's wrong," Lemillion said. He spoke in a calmer voice too, though it was still angry despite them getting to a more civilized kind of conversation. He gave Zach the angry expression but said, trying to convince him this time, "When you decided to come back to be a hero, you have to accept all that comes with that. You have to act like a hero too. You can't be, this-"

"I get what you're saying," Zach started, lifting his tone in a way that made it clear he was going to say 'but' after it. "But," Zach continued, after a long pause and the 'but' coming out in a condescending tone. "I want you to listen very closely to what I hear. It sounds to me, that what you want, Lemillion," Zach paused and his eyes narrowed fast at the man in front of him. "Is to take back what it means to be a hero."

Lemillion froze and his body tensed up. "Struck a nerve there, did I?" Zach asked. "Good, because that means you realize it too. That it's exactly how you're acting. Bending rules, choosing to follow me around to try and take me down, you weren't even coming after me in here with arguments about how you think I'm Death. If you tried arguing that, then you'd have a moral high ground, maybe. But to come in here telling me how to be a hero. Telling me that I'm being a hero wrong, and that you're trying to arrest me because I'm not being the 'right' kind of hero, it sounds to me like you're doing exactly what he did. Trying to take back what it means to be a hero. Breaking rules to do it. Stalking private citizens, spying on their phone calls, their conversations, their every moves. Watching them at home…"

Zach let out a breath and he turned away from Lemillion. He looked towards the wall the stairs were behind, then he turned his body towards it but looked back at Lemillion. "You want to come after me, that's fine. You want to follow me around all day looking for your moment to catch me being too Death-like, go right ahead." Zach shook his head at the man, "But don't come at me acting like you're better than me, just because I'm not waiting three months to catch really easy-to-catch villains in my own backyard. I get that I'm not supposed to yet, and that's why I sent in the tip instead. That way people don't go, 'hey, breaking the rules could be good,' so there's no problem with this. If you want, you can ask your intern Deku about the guy I was comparing to you a minute ago. See if Endeavor really was the one who caught Stain."

Zach started for the stairs, leaving Lemillion frozen behind him looking towards Zach's back with his eyes growing wider. Deku… what?!

Sometimes it's better, to just break the rules and then cover it up later. It's been years. Lemillion won't say shit about it, to anyone but Deku… maybe I should've kept that a secret. Fuck it. Fuck him. I needed something to stun him to give me a moment to leave. Zach walked around the wall and his lips twisted in rage. I decided not to break the rules! What the fuck am I doing?! Three months! I just needed to keep it together- it's the first fucking weekend- second- NO! I can't always talk my way out of it. I'm going to fuck myself here. I need to be smarter. This will keep him from following me, probably. I needed him not to be coming back every weekend, and making him think he's being a lot like Stain will get him questioning if this is really what he should be spending his time doing. But will he think I was just fucking with him? No, no the way he flinched, it looked like it hit him as I called him out on it.

Doing it to villains is alright, but not to heroes. What the fuck am I doing? He was just following me, because it's his job! I was breaking laws and- FUCK! I needed to do that. I needed, I needed to do something! The relieved feeling Zach felt when he looked at those tvs through the store window had completely faded now. Frustration replaced it, much more than he had before at how little he was doing. I made a plan! I had a fucking plan and I'm breaking it to what? To stop some drug dealers?! I could have, I could have waited a week, or even just a couple days until Lemillion wasn't… waiting, even a second, could get people killed. Time is always of the ess- NOT ANYMORE! There's a plan in place and I can't- I can't be doing this! While a hero was fucking following me?! I need to go to school! I need an actual hero license, and then things like this won't be against the law anymore! I just need to get, to the end of the term. Calm down. You spent six months doing nothing in prison. You could have gone another three, and it would have been fine. Just because you're out, doesn't mean you're free. I still need that license.

I need a pro hero license. I need it. And I need, patience… Fuck. Patience, was always something Zach sucked at.

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A/N Hope you enjoyed. Zach and Lemillion's cat and mouse game come to a head and narrowly escapes turning into a violent confrontation. Zach's doing... stuff. Don't want to say much here, so I'll just say thanks for reading! Leave a review telling me what you think or what's to come from this below.

someguy1011 chapter 152 . Apr 24

Awesome work as always, Zach is just running circles around every hero around huh. I get the feeling tho that kaminari is gonna resurface soon, Also it would be super cool to see a fight between zach and lemillion i doubt it would come to that just cause zach is too damn persuasive. Still good luck with your work and congrats, graduation is in sight! with the quality you've been providing here I know you got this

Thanks! Sorry if I got your hopes up on that Zach v Lemillion fight you guessed, but hey it could still happen. No spoilers though! I have to defend my thesis on Friday, then finals week, and then Graduation! Lol thanks for the review and hope I can keep the quality up for ya!

Guest chapter 152 . Apr 24

40-50 chapters left ;_;

Maybe 60 ;) who knows?

Guest chapter 152 . Apr 24

Zach calling Mirio a "Fucking noob" though. Fucking ouch

Togata stays on him through the weekend, but Zach still catches him off guard in their confrontation. Lemillion does not like Zach's way of doing things, and we'll see what comes of that... thanks for reviewing!

GuestP chapter 152 . Apr 24

The feels! MARRKK WHYYYYY!?
Poor Endeavor won't be able to pardon Mark anymore now that hE'S DEAD
;-; I cri
I love how Zach just throws a bunch of cards at people, like wtf?! How much more fun can he get out of being famous, just running away and throwing his cards at them XD
Lemillion and Todoroki are digging deep, deep, deeper into Zach's graveyard. Can't wait till they find out - wait is it good if they find out? Or is it bad cuz Zach goes to jail- IDK WHAT I WANT TO HAPPEN
Anyways, AWESOME CHAPTER I LOVED IT!~ Can't Wait for the next one!~

Mark ;( always sad hearing about him now. Mark really was a great guy, and I loved his character. Sad for Endeavor too. But hey Zach's got some upbeat moments these chapters. Lemillion going real deep into looking into Zach now, and though he doesn't get proof he's Death, Zach's not doing a great job of making him think otherwise. Will they find out?! ... no spoilers. XD Thanks for the review and I'm glad you're loving it!

Super Power Sensei chapter 152 . Apr 24

Mom: [Comes to the basement] Why are you so loud?!
Me: Because he's doing it again.
Mom: What?
Me: Zach's popping off again!
Mom: ...Oh. Make sure you thank Author-san. [Heads back upstairs]
Me: [screams into the air] ARIGATO AUTHOR-SAN!
You can always count on Zach to randomly pull you out of a slump and hype you up for no reason. Even when he isn't referring to you. I obviously loved Zach's interaction with those hobos. He even took the "slapped away" burger for himself(mostly for the cheese lol). Plus him fucking with Lumillion was funny as hell.
Both Lumillion and Todoroki are still undeterred from thier goal of getting at the former Death. We'll see where that goes as time goes on I'm sure. It's also nice to read Enji and Shoto getting along.
Can you show us some quirk classes?(meta within the classes?(like people just using them to socialize and blow off steam)pricing? overall worth? someone's transition from quirk classes to a hero course because of new percieved usefulness?)
As always I'll await your next upload. Hope you get a good grade on your thesis too.

XD lol at your review. Glad you liked it, and Zach really pops off this time as he gets back to his roots and hunts down some villains. I'm happy you liked the hobo scene, because I was writing it while procrastinating on my thesis and feeling like I couldn't do it anymore. Zach hyped me up too, felt like I motivated myself through him that I needed to try instead of just giving up on graduation. We'll see about Lemillion and Todoroki moving forward, as well as maybe more stuff about how society is changing around Quirks that I touch on occasionally. Thanks for the review as always, and hope you enjoyed the new chapter!

Todorokiii chapter 152 . Apr 25

Im no homeless dude but I could relate with him. I want my life to be easy, I guess everybody does. But it's never easy and I know that. I always wanted to give up because problems would never leave, and it gets harder to solve. That's why I'm here, involving myself with the fictional world so I could forget reality where I don't want to face. Then Zach slapped me on the face and woke me up. Gosh, I'm inlove with this character. Thank you Author-san, this chapter is truly and still amazing. Btw, hehe. Lemillion and Endeavor is a confirmed noobs.

Feel you too. The characters in that alley just felt realistic to me as I wrote them out, felt like ways I've felt sometimes and I know I could end up in the same place if I don't take Zach's advice. I'm glad you took it to a personal level too, and really happy you guys are all invested in Zach. XD Thanks for the reviews, and hope y'all enjoyed the new chapter!